As of Tuesday, Oct. 9, there were 119 cases confirmed nationally, with 11 fatalities, in 10 states, including 39 cases total and six fatalities in Tennessee, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Kentucky is not among those nine states.
The recent outbreak has been linked to tainted steroid injections, which have been traced to New England Compounding Center, a specialty pharmacy in Framingham, Mass. Those injections were given starting on Monday, May 21. The pharmacy issued a recall on Wednesday, Sept. 26, and has shut down operations.
The CDC stresses that fungal meningitis is not contagious – meaning it isn’t transferred from person to person – and also states that epidural injections are generally very safe.
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