The toll from the ongoing fungal meningitis outbreak continues to climb, with health authorities reporting 328 infections on Thursday - up 11 from the previous day.
In its latest update, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were 323 cases of fungal meningitis plus five related peripheral joint infections. The agency reports 24 deaths tied to the outbreak, the same number as on Wednesday.
The illnesses, which first emerged just over a month ago, have been linked to tainted products from the New England Compounding Center. The Food and Drug Administration has since issued a warning covering medications from the compounding pharmacy that have been distributed since May 21 at more than 3,000 medical facilities nationwide.
The meningitis outbreak linked to a tainted steroid is to blame for another death - bringing the toll to 24, the CDC said today.
A total of 312 cases of fungal meningitis has now been confirmed. There are also five cases of peripheral joint infections. All are linked to steroid injections from the New England Compounding Center.
Follow CNN.com/health for more details on the outbreak.
A 67-year-old cancer patient was arrested Wednesday in connection with a fire that ripped through a hospital in Taiwan killing at least 12 people and injuring 60 others.
Lin Chi-hsiung, who was found hiding in a storage facility at the hospital, confessed to starting the fire a day earlier because he was upset over his illness, according to Tseng Chao-kai, head prosecutor for the Tainan District Prosecutor's Office.
Lin is a colon cancer patient who has been hospitalized in the facility since late 2010, Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) reported.
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The number of people who have died from a 15-state outbreak of noncontagious fungal meningitis has risen to 19, up four from Saturday, the Centers for Disease Control said Wednesday.
The cases have been linked to injections of a contaminated steroid produced by the New England Compounding Center. Some 14,000 people may have received the injections, the CDC estimated last week.
The number of fungal meningitis cases associated with the injections has risen to 245 – 12 more than Tuesday, the CDC says. Two people also have contracted peripheral joint infections; neither has died, according to the CDC.
Members of Congress are involved in an investigation of the outbreak.
Meningitis is an inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. It is usually caused by an infection, frequently with bacteria or a virus, but it can also be caused by less common pathogens, such as fungi in this case, according to the CDC. Fungal meningitis is very rare and, unlike viral and bacterial meningitis, is not contagious.
Sixty-one cases have been reported in Tennessee, with 48 in Michigan, 37 in Virginia and 32 in Indiana. Cases also have been reported in Florida (13); Idaho (one); Illinois (one); Maryland (16); Minnesota (seven); New Hampshire (six); New Jersey (12); North Carolina (two); Ohio (nine); Pennsylvania (one); and Texas (one).
October 16, 2012: FDA warns patients to be vigilant about drugs from compounding center
The Centers for Disease Control has released new numbers regarding the fungal meningitis outbreak.
There are now 170 confirmed cases, up from 137. The number of deaths has increased from 12 to 14.
In light of the new numbers, we wanted to share a bit of helpful information for you about the outbreak and help explain what you need to know.
The recent outbreak is linked to injections developed at a compounding center. So, what is that, and why are we getting medications from them?
Many of our readers have had a lot of questions about the outbreak. We've answered them here and we hope they will be helpful for you.
Here's some more information on the outbreak:
NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. will miss the next two races in the chase for the Sprint Cup after sustaining a concussion during a massive wreck on the last lap of Sunday's Good Sam 500 at Talladega, Alabama, Earnhardt said Thursday.
Earnhardt was part of a 25-car pileup at Talladega. He told a press conference Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway that he was hit and spun during the wreck, apparently aggravating a concussion injury he sustained during a test run at Kansas Motor Speedway five weeks ago.
Earnhardt's doctor told him that "if you get hit again right away, it could be catastrophic," Rick Hendrick, owner of the Hendrick Motorsports team for which Earnhardt races, said Thursday.
Though Earnhardt said he felt completely recovered from the Kansas wreck by the time the green flag fell at Talladega, he said he knew immediately that the Talladega wreck had caused an injury.
“You know how your body is and you know when something’s not quite right, and I knew as soon as it happened that I had re-injured myself,” Earnhardt said Thursday.
“It wasn’t even half of the impact I had at Kansas, but it was enough to cause me some concern,” he said.
A waterborne, brain-destroying species of amoeba has killed 10 people in Karachi, Pakistan, this year, prompting local water officials to increase the amount of chlorine in the city’s water supply and advise residents to use sterilized water when performing a Muslim ritual which involves cleansing the nostrils.
Misbahuddin Farid, managing director of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, said the origin of the amoebas had not been determined, according to a report in the Dawn newspaper.
Naegleria fowleri
The amoeba, known by the scientific name Naegleria fowleri, is virtually impossible to detect in the water and its presence in humans is determined by spinal tests, according to information on the water board’s website.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Naegleria fowleri amoeba causes a severe brain infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis. The disease is usually fatal.
The amoeba most commonly enters the body through the nasal passages and usually infects people who have been swimming in warm freshwater lakes and rivers, according to the CDC.
But it can exist in improperly chlorinated swimming pool or heated tap water, the CDC says.
Only one of the 10 victims of the current outbreak in Pakistan had visited a swimming pool, according to another report from the Dawn newspaper, so authorities are focusing on the Muslim ablution ritual, or waddu.
The Centers for Disease Control said Monday that the number of people infected with meningitis related to steroid injections has gone from 91 to 105. The death toll has risen from seven to eight.
Patients in nine states contracted the deadly fungal meningitis after being injected in their spine with a preservative-free steroid called methylprednisolone acetate that was contaminated by a fungus. The steroid is used to treat pain and inflammation.
The New England Compounding Center (NECC), the Massachusetts-based pharmacy that made the contaminated injections, voluntarily recalled three lots of the injected steroid last week.
Indianapolis Colts head coach Chuck Pagano has been diagnosed with leukemia, according to team owner Jim Irsay, and the coach's doctor describes it as a highly treatable form of the disease.
"I am very optimistic that he will beat this thing," Irsay said during a news conference Monday. Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians will take the team's helm during Pagano's absence, the owner said.
According to the National Cancer Institute, acute promyelocytic leukemia – the type with which Pagano was diagnosed – is an “aggressive (fast-growing) type of acute myeloid leukemia in which there are too many immature blood-forming cells in the blood and bone marrow.”
Tourists Karin Bowerman, 27, of Wisconsin, and Cathy Huynh, 26, of Ontario, died mysteriously just days apart this summer in Nha Trang, Vietnam. Since then, family and friends have waited anxiously for the autopsy results.
Speculation on the women’s cause of death ranged from alcohol poisoning to insecticide poisoning. But authorities are now saying there were no traces of toxins in Bowerman’s blood or gastric fluids, according to the Tuoi Tre News, an English-language news site operated by Vietnam’s largest newspaper.
“She died from breathing failures, circulatory collapse due to brain edema,” Lt. Col. Nguyen Hong Ky, deputy head of the Nha Trang police department, told Tuoi Tre News. Brain edema is a buildup of fluid in the brain. The official autopsy report has not been publicly released.
On July 30, Bowerman and Huynh were admitted to Khanh Hoa General Hospital; both were vomiting, had difficulty breathing and showed signs of severe dehydration.
Bowerman died later that night. Huynh was released from the hospital and died two days later. Bowerman’s body underwent an autopsy in Vietnam, according to her family, while Huynh’s body was returned to Canada to be examined in Hamilton, Ontario.
Tuoi Tre News reported earlier that Bowerman’s medical samples had not been sent to Hanoi, Vietnam, for testing as late as two weeks after her death. The director of the local forensic examination center told Tuoi Tre News that the wait period could affect the results, even if the samples were well preserved.
The autopsy results from Huynh are not expected for several weeks.
Health officials said Wednesday that they've sent warnings to Yosemite National Park visitors from 39 other countries about a potentially deadly hantavirus uncovered at some of the park's cabins this summer.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said up to 10,000 people were at risk, after estimating the number of friends and family members of those who stayed with visitors who booked reservations at the cabins.
"All guests who made reservations to stay in the 'Signature Tent Cabins' from June 10 through August 24, 2012 (approximately 2,900 persons) were emailed or mailed a health advisory urging them to seek immediate medical attention if they or other persons in their party exhibit symptoms of HPS," or hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, the CDC reported last week.
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The brain of former National Football League star Junior Seau showed no apparent signs of damage from Seau's years in professional football, according to an autopsy report released Monday.
Seau's death on May 2 in his Oceanside, California, home was classified as a suicide the next day by the San Diego County medical examiner.
The autopsy results released Monday showed Seau shot himself in the chest with a hollow-point bullet from a .357-caliber revolver. The bullet hit Seau's heart, spleen and left lung.
He had used zolpidem, a sleep aid sold under the brand name Ambien among others, and naproxen, a pain reliever sold under the brand name Aleve among others, but there were no signs of alcohol, "common drugs of abuse," or other medications, according to the report by deputy medical examiner Craig Nelson.
Seau's suicide came on the heels of the suicides of other former NFL stars, including former Chicago Bears safety Dave Duerson just over a year earlier.
A British man left paralyzed by a catastrophic stroke seven years ago lost his High Court battle Thursday to gain a legal right to end his life when he chooses.
Tony Nicklinson's condition means it is impossible for him to take his own life - and he wants the legal right to have a doctor take his life without fear of prosecution.
But while expressing sympathy for his situation, the High Court ruled that such a significant change to the law - involving overturning the ban on voluntary euthanasia - would have to be decided by lawmakers.
The judges also rejected a similar challenge to the law brought by a second man suffering locked-in syndrome, named only as Martin.
"The Court recognised that the cases raise profoundly difficult ethical, social and legal issues, but it judged that any change to the law must be a matter for Parliament to decide," a statement from the court said.
The ruling upset Nicklinson, who cried as his wife, Jane, told the waiting media that the family was "bitterly disappointed" and would file an appeal.
In the meantime, her husband will have to continue living as he is, or starve himself to death, she said.
FULL STORYOne of five prisoners receiving treatment for a suspected case of Ebola virus in Uganda escaped overnight Friday from the hospital at the center of the outbreak, a health official said.
"Should his results come back and he is positive, that causes us a lot of worry. So right now, we have resolved that the remaining prisoners will be cuffed on the beds for fear that they might also escape," said Dr. Jackson Amune, commissioner at the Ministry of Health.
The five inmates from Kibaale prison are among 30 people at Kagadi hospital with suspected cases of the virus. Two additional patients have confirmed cases, according to Doctors Without Borders.
FULL STORYThe race to the presidency now turns toward the general election in November. CNN.com Live is your home for all the latest news and views from the campaign trail.
Today's programming highlights...
9:30 am ET - Women's health care briefing - Senate Democrats join Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to discuss new women's health care coverage that will take effect tomorrow.
The race to the presidency now turns toward the general election in November. CNN.com Live is your home for all the latest news and views from the campaign trail.
Today's programming highlights...
9:00 am ET - International AIDS Conference - Today is the final day of the International AIDS Conference in Washington. Among today's highlights - Whoopi Goldberg will address delegates at 11:00 am ET, while Bill Clinton and Rep. Nancy Pelosi deliver closing remarks at 3:15 pm ET.
11:30 am ET - White House briefing - "Fiscal cliff" fears, the Colorado shootings and Syria will likely top Press Secretary Jay Carney's agenda with the White House press corps.
CNN.com Live is your home for breaking news as it happens.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposal to ban the sale of large, sugary drinks was heavily debated at a public hearing Tuesday at the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in Long Island City, Queens.
The mayor, while not present, has been at the heart of the debate since May, when he announced he wanted to ban the sale of any sugary, nondairy beverage greater than 16 ounces at New York City restaurants, delis, movie theaters and street carts. The ban would not apply to grocery or convenience stores.
The proposal has people fizzing over the idea that the mayor wants to control their freedom of choice. Bloomberg says the ban is part of a long-standing effort to fight obesity.
According to the Health Department, more than half of New York City adults are overweight, and more than 20% of the city's children (in grades K-8) are obese.
The department argues that sugary beverages go hand-in-hand with obesity. Sugar-sweetened beverages are the largest source of sugar in the average American's diet, with nearly 43% of added sugar intake, the department says.
A 20-ounce sugary soft drink contains the equivalent of 16 packets of sugar, according to the Health Department.
"What this proposal is about at its core is the health of New Yorkers," New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley, who supports the ban, said Tuesday. FULL POST
The race to the presidency now turns toward the general election in November. CNN.com Live is your home for all the latest news and views from the campaign trail.
Today's programming highlights...
8:40 am ET - International AIDS Conference - Doctors, experts and activists gather in Washington for the International AIDS Conference, the first to be held in the U.S. in more than two decades.
The Disney World dreams of a 4-year-old Ohio girl who’s recovering from leukemia are looking better this week after plans for the Make-A-Wish Foundation to pay for the trip were scrapped.
The girl, McKenna May, completed intensive treatment in June for the cancer she was diagnosed with more than two years ago. It was that treatment that prevented her from going to Disney when the Make-A-Wish trip was first discussed in January 2011, McKenna’s grandmother, Lori Helppie, said Thursday.
But McKenna is now on once-a-month aftercare visits that would allow time for her to make the trip to the Magic Kingdom, her mother, Whitney Hughes, told CNN.
However, McKenna’s father, William May of Toledo, Ohio, who was never married to Hughes, says Make-A-Wish’s money would be better spent on terminally ill children who will never get to experience Disney otherwise since his daughter is free of cancer.
He’s refusing to sign paperwork that would allow the foundation to pay for McKenna’s trip.
“There’s children out there that deserve a trip like this that will never get to experience it,” May, 28, told CNN Thursday. “My daughter can go when she’s older and can remember it. I’ll pay for it.”
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Comments: Readers mostly avoid politics, wish best for Specter's cancer fight
Editor's note: We're listening to you. Every day, we spot thought-provoking comments from readers. Here's some comments we noticed today.
As the Republican National Convention moves forward, politically charged comments flow like water. Readers called for a few tidbits of unity on the story about Arlen Specter's fight against cancer. Specter, 82, was the longest-serving senator from Pennsylvania and switched from being a longtime GOP member to the Democratic Party in 2009.
Ex-Sen. Specter plans to win fight against cancer
Readers mused about Specter's political history in the current divided climate. Several commenters thanked Specter.
Push politics aside for a moment, this reader pleaded.
Many of the readers claimed to be Pennsylvanians, and gave a local perspective. FULL POST
Filed under: Comments • Health • Politics