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Meningitis Outbreak Tied to Back Pain Injections

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More than 500 patients at an Evansville, Indiana, hospital received injections of a recalled back medication tied to a meningitis outbreak. A St. Mary’s Health spokeswoman says 10 of the 250 patients the hospital has contacted have symptoms of the illness. The steroid injections for back pain were distributed in nearly two dozen states and have been contaminated with a deadly fungal meningitis. The Centers for Disease Control says 35 people in six states, including Tennessee, have contracted meningitis. Five of them have died. The contaminated shots were administered between July and September.

Whitney grew up listening to Car Talk to and from her family’s beach vacation each year, but it wasn’t until a friend introduced her to This American Life that radio really grabbed her attention. She is a recent graduate from Union University in Jackson, Tenn., where she studied journalism. When she’s not at WKMS, you can find her working on her backyard compost pile and garden, getting lost on her bicycle or crocheting one massive blanket.
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