Indiana has 32 cases of fungal meningitis linked to injections of a recalled back pain steroid, and authorities in Michigan are reporting 44 cases of fungal meningitis, along with four non-meningitis infection cases related to the same contaminated steroids.
The Indiana State Department of Health reported two new cases Wednesday. Two Indiana patients have died.
The state agency has released no details about the two deaths or the clinics they’re linked to. Its policy is to withhold details about where the Indiana cases are located.
Relatives of 89-year-old Pauline Burema of Cassopolis, Mich., have said they believe she contracted the disease after receiving an injection at the OSMC Outpatient Surgery Center in Elkhart. Burema died Oct. 10, and the family is awaiting autopsy results on the cause. A granddaughter has said the clinic has told its patients it had at least eight cases.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the Michigan count of 48 total infections was up by 20 from one week earlier.
Michigan’s death toll remains at four, including the death of a Cass County woman whose meningitis was linked to treatments for back pain across the state border at an Indiana clinic. Her case is included in Indiana’s count.
A steroid made by a Massachusetts pharmacy has been tied to a national outbreak of the rare fungal form of meningitis. It has killed 19 people nationwide.
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