The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday had the following state-by-state breakdown of cases: Florida: 24 cases, including 3 deaths; Georgia, 1 case; Idaho, 1 case; Illinois, 2 cases; Indiana: 55 cases, including 5 deaths; Maryland: 23 cases, including 1 death; Michigan: 164 cases, including 9 deaths; Minnesota: 13 cases; New Hampshire: 13 cases; New Jersey: 33 cases; New York: 1 case; North Carolina: 3 cases, including 1 death; Ohio: 18 cases; Pennsylvania: 1 case; Rhode Island: 3 cases; South Carolina: 1 case; Tennessee: 82 cases, including 13 deaths; Texas: 2 cases; Virginia: 50 cases, including 2 deaths.
Twelve of the 490 cases involve what the CDC calls "peripheral joint infection," meaning an infection in a knee, hip, shoulder or elbow. These joint infections aren't considered as dangerous as injections near the spine for back pain that have been linked to the potentially fatal meningitis infections.
The CDC and state health departments estimate that roughly 14,000 patients may have gotten steroid injections from the New England Compounding Center. All of the fungal meningitis patients identified so far were thought to be injected with the steroid methylprednisolone acetate, according to the CDC.
People who have had a steroid injection since July, and have any of the following symptoms, should talk to their doctor as soon as possible: worsening headache, fever, sensitivity to light, stiff neck, new weakness or numbness in any part of your body or slurred speech, the CDC said.
More information
The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about injections for back pain.
SOURCES: Nov. 19, 2012, updated statistics, U.S. Centers for
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