End in Sight for Meningitis Outbreak

New cases still cropping up, but doctors says we're almost out of the woods
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 26, 2012 8:03 AM CDT
End In Sight for Meningitis Outbreak
This Oct. 12 file photo shows a microscope slide at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.   (AP Photo/Pouya Dianat, File)

New cases are still being reported in the nationwide meningitis outbreak, but there's now "a light at the end of the tunnel," authorities said yesterday. That's because the risk of death or stroke more or less disappears 42 days after exposure to the contaminated steroid causing all this trouble, Fox News explains. One Tennessee official said that of the 1,009 people exposed in his state, 250 had already moved past that threshold, and the rest would by Nov. 8.

That happy pronouncement came, however, the same day officials announced that the outbreak had expanded to its 18th state, with South Carolina reporting its first case, Reuters reports. It was one of 11 cases reported yesterday, bringing the total number up to 323. Five other states haven't had any cases, but are at risk because they received steroids from the New England Compounding Center. (More meningitis stories.)

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