Meningitis Death Toll Reaches 14, 170 People Infected in 11 States

Washington, DCThe deadly multi-state fungal meningitis outbreak continues to spread with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reporting infections in 11 states. The CDC is also reporting that 170 people have been confirmed ill with the disease and a further 14 have died. The latest fatalities are in Florida and Indiana.

So far, deaths have occurred in six states: six in Tennessee, three in Michigan, two in Florida, one in Maryland, and one in Virginia. The other states reporting infections include Idaho, Indiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey and Ohio.

The CDC is reporting that as of October 10, 2012, their fungal disease laboratory has confirmed the presence of the fungus Exserohilum in 10 people with meningitis and the fungus Aspergillus in one person with meningitis.

The CDC is working with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and state health officials to investigate the outbreak of meningitis among patients who had received an epidural steroid injection. Investigation into the exact source of the outbreak is still ongoing, but the outbreak is associated with a potentially contaminated medication, the FDA reports.

That drug that appears to be the cause of the infection is preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate (80mg/ml), an injectable steroid produced and distributed by New England Compounding Center (NECC) in Framingham, Massachusetts. CDC’s interim data show that all infected patients received injection with this product.

The FDA also reports that it has observed fungal contamination by direct microscopic examination of foreign matter taken from a sealed vial of methylprednisolone acetate collected from NECC. FDA is in the process of conducting additional microbial testing to confirm the exact species of the fungus.