A fungal meningitis outbreak linked to vials used to inject steriods in patients with back ailments and pain has continued to spread the Center for Disease Control reports. The vials originate from a Massachusetts company, the New England Compounding Center. The FDA is advising medical practitioners to end use of all the company's products.
So far there are three deaths in Tennessee, one each in North Carolina and Maryland linked to the outbreak.
The widow the Hon. Eddie Lovelace, a fine circuit court judge from southern Kentucky, has reported that Judge Lovelace died of fungal meningitis after traveling to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville for treatment for long-standing back problems that the judge suffered from. Bill Estep reports in the Lexington Herald-Leader: Kentucky Circuit Judge Died of Fungal Meningitis, His Widow Says.
The fungal meningitis outbreak is being widely covered: Slate, Washington Post, ABC News, Los Angeles Times, and Time.
