Minn. records 13th illness from tainted steroids

Published 11:24 am Friday, November 16, 2012

ST. PAUL — Health officials say a woman with a bone infection has Minnesota’s 13th confirmed illness linked to contaminated steroids from a Massachusetts pharmacy.

The Minnesota Department of Health says she’s in her 20s and is not hospitalized. The department says her infection is consistent with osteomyelitis, an infection inside the bone. And this is Minnesota’s second case of a bone infection blamed on tainted injectable steroids from the New England Compounding Center.

Minnesota has also recorded 11 confirmed cases of fungal meningitis. While the department had put that number at 12 on Tuesday, it now says the correct count of fungal meningitis cases is 11.

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recorded 451 cases of fungal meningitis nationwide plus 10 joint infections linked to the tainted product.