Meningitis Outbreak 2012: 21 People Dead and 271 Ill As of Friday, October 19

More people have died from the national meningitis outbreak.

U.S. News and World Report say as of Friday, 21 people have died and 271 have fallen ill.

The death toll jumped from 15 people this past Wednesday to 20 people Thursday. From Thursday until the writing of this article, one more person has died.

On Thursday, health officials said a fungus found in the steroid injections produced by a Massachusetts pharmacy matched the fungus linked to the outbreak. The fungus is said to be Exserohilum rostratum, which an estimated 14,000 people have been infected with. Of that number, 97 percent of patients have been contacted, according to the FDA.

Latinos Post reports that the CDC confirmed 9 new cases between Oct. 17 and Oct. 18. In New York, 16 meningitis cases have been reported. In Michigan, four people have died, and in Tennessee, 8 deaths.

It was originally thought that those infected received the shots only for back pain, but now reports are showing those who received shots for knee and shoulder pains may also be at risk.

As previously reported, a clinic in Indiana gave more than 500 people shots from contaminated lots. Two clinics in Tennessee, where eight people have died, reported more than 900 patients received the shots.

The outbreak is said to have come from the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass.

States that received shipments of the recalled steroid are California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Texas and West Virginia.

The Centers for Disease Control says fungal meningitis occurs when the protective membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord are infected with a fungus Fungal meningitis can develop after a fungus spreads through the bloodstream from somewhere else in the body, as a result of the fungus being introduced directly into the central nervous system, or by direct extension from an infected body site next to the central nervous system.