2 Minnesota Meningitis Patients Released

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Health officials say two of the three Minnesotans who developed meningitis linked to tainted steroids have been released from the hospital and the third is expected to go home soon.

No new cases of meningitis have been confirmed in Minnesota since last week when officials said three women in their 40s had contracted meningitis.

The state Department of Health is waiting for additional test results. Health officials say more than 800 Minnesotans may have been exposed to the tainted steroids when they received spinal injections at two Twin Cities clinics, Medical Advanced Pain Specialists and the Minnesota Surgery Center.

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 that can cause meningitis and strokes.

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