|
Laboratory technician Ruth Rutledge packages cerebrospinal fluid of the three confirmed meningitis cases in Minn., to send to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for further testing, at the Minnesota Department of Health in St. Paul, Minn., on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012. The number of people sickened by a deadly meningitis outbreak has now reached 119 cases, including 11 deaths, according to the CDC. The states involved in the outbreak are Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey and Ohio. Officials have tied the outbreak of rare fungal meningitis to steroid shots for back pain. (AP Photo/Hannah Foslien) (October 12, 2012) |
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A state health official says Indiana's confirmed cases of fungal meningitis linked to a tainted back pain medication have risen to 24.
State Department of Health spokesman Ken Severson released the update Friday, a day after federal officials confirmed Indiana's first death from the illness.
The family of an 89-year-old Cass County, Mich. woman said Thursday they believe she died of fungal meningitis after receiving two injections of the tainted drug at OSMC Outpatient Surgery Center in Elkhart.
Lisa Ann Durbin says her grandmother Pauline Burema of Cassopolis died Wednesday at a daughter's home in Bristol.
Durbin says the family is waiting for autopsy results to confirm the cause of death. However, doctors told the family they believe Burema had contracted meningitis from shots she received Aug. 22 and Sept. 8 at OSMC. Durbin says Burema was found unconscious in her home Oct. 3.
Indiana's 24 cases involve patients at six Indiana health facilities that received a steroid recalled by a Massachusetts specialty pharmacy. Those clinics are in Elkhart, Evansville, Fort Wayne, South Bend, Terre Haute and Columbus.
