Meningitis Outbreak Misses U.P.

A national outbreak of fungal meningitis has resulted in three deaths and 25 reported cases in the Lower Peninsula.

But the outbreak has not affected the U.P. and is not expected to.

Meningitis is an infection of the protective membranes covering the brain and the spinal cord.

119 people in 10 U.S. states are affected so far, with 11 total deaths.

Those patients all received a contaminated steroid made in Framingham, Massachusetts.

The Centers for Disease Control have recalled the steroid.

Medical facilities in Traverse City,  Grand Blanc, Brighton and Warren received shipments of it, but it did not make its way this far north.

Fred Benzie from the Marquette County Health Department says no facilities in the U.P. or anywhere in Wisconsin received the steroid, and meningitis is not a communicable disease, so he says U.P. residents should be safe.

The three Michigan residents who have died are a 56–year–old woman from Genesee County, a 67–year–old woman from Livingston County and a 78–year–old Washtenaw County woman.