5th Case Of Meningitis Reported In Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- The Minnesota Department of Health says the number of confirmed fungal meningitis cases in the state linked to tainted steroids has risen to five.

Department spokesman Doug Schultz says the patient is a Minnesota woman in her 20s. He didn't know specifics on her case, but said she likely would have had at least a brief hospital stay for a spinal tap to confirm the diagnosis.

Health officials say more than 800 Minnesotans may have been exposed to the tainted steroids when they received spinal injections at Twin Cities pain clinics.

The outbreak has sickened more than 200 people in 14 states, killing 15.

New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass., recalled about 17,000 vials of the steroid after investigators found three lots were contaminated by a fungus.

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