ASSOCIATED PRESS UPDATE:



INDIANAPOLIS — A second case of fungal meningitis that’s been liked to injections of a recalled back-pain medication has been reported in Indiana.

OSMC Surgery Center CEO Don Hammond says test results received Friday morning confirmed that one of the Elkhart office’s patients had contracted the rare illness that’s tied to a widening U.S. outbreak that’s killed five people.

Indiana State Department of Health spokesman Ken Severson says there are two confirmed cases but won’t disclose the locations.

Six Indiana health facilities received batches of the medication that was recently recalled by a Massachusetts manufacturer. The affected clinics are in Evansville, Fort Wayne, Elkhart, South Bend, Terre Haute and Columbus.

More than 1,000 people in Indiana who received the injections are being notified.

The disease is not contagious but can be fatal.



ORIGINAL STORY:



ELKHART — OSMC Outpatient Surgery Center is contacting its patients who have been treated for chronic back pain with a drug recently recalled due to contamination.

OSMC is one of the six Indiana facilities to receive the tainted steroid medication, which may cause fungal meningitis, according to a press release from OSMC. The drug, recalled by New England Compounding Company, is administered via epidural injections.

Patients who have been treated with epidural steroid injections and has symptoms of fungal meningitis should see a physician immediately, according to OSMC. The condition is not contagious.

Common symptoms include headache, fever, nausea and stiffness of neck. Some patients may experience a dislike of bright lights, changes in mental status, confusion, hallucinations or personality changes.

OSMC expects to have contacted all its patients today and is also communicating with area primary care physicians and hospitals to help prepare them for any patient that might be affected.