Both the death and case tolls have risen in the fungal meningitis outbreak linked with contaminated steroids shipped from a New England pharmacy, health officials confirmed today.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have listed that as of Monday, at least 30 people of the now-419 cases of fungal meningitis nationwide have died, the latest death coming in Tennessee.
Tennessee has the second most cases of fungal meningitis recorded by the federal agency with 78 cases-second only to Michigan's 119 -and the most outbreak-related deaths, the latest victim bringing Tennessee's death toll to 13.
So far, at least 19 states have reported outbreak cases, including Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
Since Nov. 2, Michigan's previous infected number of 112 people has climbed to 119 after seen new cases were reported in the last three days, according to Michigan-based outlet The News-Herald. New meningitis cases also were reported in Indiana, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Virginia over the weekend, the CDC told The Tennessean.
The cases have all been linked to epidural steroid injections shipped from the Framingham, Mass.-based New England Compounding Center, which has since issued a recall after federal officials traced the outbreak to the company's facilities last month.
The injections were used primarily as part of a steroid injection treatment for people who suffer chronic back pains.
Other Michigan patients that died after receiving the injections include a 79-year-old Livingston County woman, an 81-year-old Charlevoix woman, a 64-year-old Wayne County woman, a 67-year-old Livingston County woman, a 62-year-old man and 78-year-old woman, both from Washtenaw County and a 56-year-old Genesee County woman and a woman from Berrien County who died in Indiana, state officials told the News Herald.
The US House of Representatives has appointed the Energy and Commerce Committee to investigate the outbreak. The committee will have its first hearing on the issue next week on Nov. 14, with US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg scheduled to testify before the panel, the Boston Globe reported Monday through the Associated Press.