As many as 13,000 people received steroid shots suspected in a national meningitis outbreak, health officials said Monday. But it’s not clear how many are in danger.
Officials don’t how many of the shots may have been contaminated with meningitis-causing fungus. And the figure includes not only those who got them in the back for pain — who are most at risk — but also those who got the shots in other places, like knees and shoulders.
There was no breakdown on the number of back injections, said Curtis Allen, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those injected in joints are not believed to be at risk for meningitis, he said.
The number of people sickened in the meningitis outbreak reached 105 on Monday. Deaths rose to eight, with another fatality in Tennessee, the CDC said. Tennessee has the most cases, followed by Michigan, Virginia, Indiana, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina and Ohio.
Investigators suspect a steroid medication made by a specialty pharmacy may be to blame. About 17,700 single-dose vials of the steroid were sent to 23 states. Inspectors found at least one sealed vial contaminated with fungus, and tests were being done on other vials.
The first known case of the rarely seen fungal meningitis was diagnosed last month in Tennessee. The steroid maker, New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Mass., recalled the drug, and over the weekend recalled everything else it makes.
“While there is no indication at this time of any contamination in other NECC products, this recall is being taken as a precautionary measure,” the company said in a statement.
Meningitis is an inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord, and a back injection would put any contaminant in more direct contact with that lining.
Symptoms on meningitis include severe headache, nausea, dizziness and fever. The CDC said many of the cases have been mild and some people had strokes. Symptoms have been appearing between one and four weeks after patients got the shots.
Deadly Drug Trials: Western Firms Bribed East German Doctors 2013 05 24
It wasn’t just the East German government that benefited from risky patient drug trials commissioned by Western pharmaceutical manufacturers decades ago. These companies also sent liaisons with lavish gifts to bribe and influence doctors to participate.
The presents always came in the springtime. When the representatives of Western pharmaceutical companies arrived at the Leipzig Trade Fair, they made sure that East ...
Home Secretary secretly strips two more people of British citizenship 2013 05 24
The Home Secretary has stripped at least two additional individuals of their British citizenship in recent months, the Bureau has learned.
In February, an investigation by the Bureau and published with the Independent revealed that Theresa May had signed deprivation of citizenship orders for 16 people between the 2010 election and November 2012, including five British-born individuals. That total has now ...
Mahatma Gandhi’s blood fails to sell at auction 2013 05 24 Famous pacifist Mahatma Gandhi didn’t like to spill any when he was alive so it is quite ironic a sample of his blood was put up for sale in a recent auction.
In the end the activist’s body fluid was not sold as no-one was able to meet the £10,000 ($15,155) reserve price.
Gandhi’s blood had been available to buy after being ...
Ancient decapitated ball game statue found in Mexico 2013 05 24 Villagers installing a water pipe a few weeks ago in the town of Piedra Labrada in the southwestern Mexico near the Guatemalan border unearthed a granite stele depicting a player of the Mesoamerican ball game. The figure is 5’4″ high including the head which archaeologists believe was deliberately severed from the body during a ball game ritual. He’s a bow-legged ...
Finally! Independent Testing Of Cold Fusion Device: Maybe The World Will Change After All 2013 05 24 [...]
I haven’t posted about Rossi and his E-Cat since last August simply because there wasn’t much to report other than more of Rossi’s unsupported and infuriating claims that included building large-scale automated factories to churn out millions of E-Cats (the factories still have no sign of actually existing) through to unsubstantiated performance claims that sounded far too good to ...
Deadly Drug Trials: Western Firms Bribed East German Doctors 
Home Secretary secretly strips two more people of British citizenship
Mahatma Gandhi’s blood fails to sell at auction
Ancient decapitated ball game statue found in Mexico
Finally! Independent Testing Of Cold Fusion Device: Maybe The World Will Change After All