Public Health: Meningitis Outbreak Contained in Champaign County

Public health officials across the country are on high alert about a meningitis outbreak linked to injections of a steroid used to treat back pain.

The fungal meningitis has led to more than 200 illnesses and 15 deaths. So far, 28 cases have been reported in Indiana and one case in Illinois.

Champaign-Urbana Public Health Administrator Julie Pryde said only two places in Champaign County had vials containing the steroid.

“They were notified early, and had taken everything out of their stock," Pryde said. "So, we continue to monitor everything, and it’s always of concern if someone had gone elsewhere maybe to receive an injection and it wasn’t in Champaign County.”

Pryde notes the fungal meningitis at the center of this outbreak can only be passed on through the steroid injections.

Fourteen states are now reporting cases of the virus.