Fungal Meningitis Outbreak has claimed four more lives and 14 more cases have been reported.

Tennessee has reported two more deaths due to the fungal meningitis outbreak. This brings Tennessee’s death toll to four and they are reporting 61 total cases of the disease state wide.

The other two meningitis related deaths occurred in Florida and Virginia.

The 14 additional recently reported cases come from Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia and Minnesota.

The fungal meningitis outbreak is due to tainted epidural steroid injections manufactured at The New England Compounding Center (NECC) in Framingham, Massachusetts. The tainted injections have been linked to 267 cases of meningitis and 19 deaths thus far.

The steroid injections were shipped to 23 states and were used via epidural as medication for back and joint pain. The states to receive the steroids include California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

The New England Compounding Center has recalled all the products and put a stop to all its operations.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention are conducting investigations regarding the fungal meningitis outbreak.

Meningitis affects the membranous lining of the spinal cord and brain. Symptoms of meningitis include: fever headache, nausea, dizziness, stiff neck, weakness or numbness, sensitivity to light, redness or swelling at the injection site and slurred speech. Fungal meningitis can be diagnosed through a spinal tab, which draws spinal fluid in order to find signs of the disease. Fungal meningitis, unlike bacterial meningitis, is not transmitted person to person.