Meningitis outbreak: 11 dead, 119 infected

As many as 13,000 may have received medicine from potentially contaminated injections

Author: By Ashley Fantz CNN

Published On: Oct 08 2012 04:36:36 PM EDT

CNN) -

Eleven people have died so far from an outbreak of a rare non-contagious fungal meningitis, an inflammation of membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

The discovery of the outbreak, linked to an injectable steroid the patients were getting to treat pain, was first reported late last week by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

On Tuesday the CDC said 119 people had been infected, and warned that the number will likely rise. Fungal meningitis is very rare and, unlike viral and bacterial meningitis, is not contagious

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