AlQa'dah 20, 1433, Oct 6, 2012, SPA -- The number of people infected with a rare form of meningitis that has killed five people in the United States has risen to at least 47 in seven states, health authorities said Saturday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, has said the patients became ill after receiving injections of a steroid commonly used to alleviate back pain. Some 75 healthcare facilities in 23 states received the contaminated steroid, according to the centre, which initiated a recall of the affected products last week. The south-eastern state of Tennessee has been the hardest-hit, with 29 cases and three deaths. The meningitis in several patients was found to be caused by a fungus that is common in the environment but rarely causes meningitis, the centre said. This form of meningitis is not contagious. Because the injections were administered directly into the patient's spine, the pathogen had a direct route to the spinal cord and brain. The source of the infections was traced to steroids placed in syringes made at a specialty pharmacy in Framingham, Massachusetts, news reports said.
