Ind. reports 5 meningitis cases tied to steroid

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Five cases of fungal meningitis linked to a tainted back pain medication have been confirmed in Indiana, federal health officials said Saturday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted the latest count on its website Saturday afternoon.

State offices were closed for the weekend and Indiana State Department of Health officials didn't answer phone calls and emails from The Associated Press seeking additional information.

The AP also left phone messages at the six Indiana health facilities that received batches of a steroid produced by a specialty pharmacy in Massachusetts. The manufacturer has recalled the medication, and health officials have been scrambling to notify anyone who may have been injected with it.

The Indiana clinics are in Elkhart, Evansville, Fort Wayne, South Bend, Terre Haute and Columbus. OSMC Surgery Center CEO Don Hammond said Friday that two of the Elkhart clinic's patients had been hospitalized with the rare illness.

As of Friday, more than 1,000 people in Indiana were known to have received spinal injections of the drug.

In updated figures on its website, the CDC said the national outbreak has spread to more than 60 people across nine states and left seven people dead.

Minnesota and Ohio are the two latest states to report confirmed cases linked to the steroid.

Massachusetts health officials said the pharmacy involved, the New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Mass., has recalled three lots — a total of 17,676 single-dose vials — of methylprednisolone acetate.

Meningitis is an inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include severe headache, nausea, dizziness and fever.

The type of fungal meningitis involved is not contagious. It is caused by a fungus often found in leaf mold and is treated with high-dose antifungal medications, usually given intravenously.