11 cases of fungal meningitis confirmed in Ind.

Health officials have confirmed 11 cases of fungal meningitis in Indiana. It’s believed they are caused by tainted back pain medication.

No deaths in Indiana have been linked to the illness, which has spread to 105 people in nine states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Seven deaths have been confirmed in Maryland, Michigan, Tennessee and Virginia.

Fungal meningitis is not contagious. Data determined that all infected patients received an injection with preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate, prepared by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass.

The epidural injection, which was distributed in 23 states, has since been recalled, according to a press release from the Indiana State Department of Health.

Six Indiana health care facilities are known to have received the
medication.

The CDC is coordinating a multi-state investigation of meningitis among patients receiving the injection. Several patients have had strokes related to the meningitis, according to the CDC. In some, the illness was caused by a common fungus that rarely causes meningitis.

Fungal meningitis is a rare cause of meningitis, according to the CDC, and epidural injections are generally safe procedures, rarely causing complications. The type of epidural mediation given to patients affected by this outbreak is not the same medication given to women during childbirth.

The source of the fungus has not yet been identified, according to the CDC, and the cause of infections in other patients is being assessed.

— Mark Keierleber