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Fungal meningitis from contaminated steroid injections keeps expanding in the US

Tuesday, October 16th 2012 - 07:23 UTC
Full article 16 comments
The official tally at the weekend was 205 cases and 15 people killed The official tally at the weekend was 205 cases and 15 people killed

Fungal meningitis outbreak linked to contaminated steroid injections expanded in the United States to 15 states as Pennsylvania reported its first case of the disease that has killed 15 people nationwide.

The Pennsylvania patient, who received an epidural steroid injection in July from medications supplied by New England Compounding Center (NECC) of Framingham, Massachusetts, is being treated in a hospital, the Pennsylvania Department of Health said.

The new case means that all but eight of the 23 states that received suspect medications from the Massachusetts specialist pharmacy have reported at least one case of fungal meningitis, a rare and deadly disease that has proven difficult to treat.

Over the weekend the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said its tally of cases, which sometimes lags reports from state health departments, showed 205 people stricken with the disease after receiving injections. Illinois and New Hampshire reported their first cases.

The suspect lots of steroid were shipped to 76 facilities in 23 states, including two locations in Pennsylvania. Health authorities believe that nearly 14,000 people nationwide received injections from the potentially contaminated medication.

The state worst affected by the outbreak, Tennessee with 53 cases and six deaths, was holding an administrative hearing to determine whether to suspend the license of NECC.

 

Top Comments

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  • Guzz

    yanquis!
    Steroids do NOT improve your dancing skills, and after decades of abuse you are now stronger than a mule. Combine that with your natural inherited ability of being more stubborn than a mule and one can draw the conclusion that, all in all, you lot are more mules than the mules...

    Oct 16th, 2012 - 07:56 am 0
  • Captain Poppy

    Gizzbucket, you do not even kow the legitimate use of them........go back to practicing using your astrolobe as a sounding device.

    Oct 16th, 2012 - 11:44 am 0
  • ptolemy

    The title of this article should have been: “Fungal Guzz from contaminated steroid injections keeps expanding in MercoPress.”

    Oct 16th, 2012 - 01:19 pm 0
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