The government says 170 people now have been sickened in the meningitis outbreak linked to tainted steroid shots, and 14 of them have died.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the nation's count Thursday, showing 33 more cases and two additional deaths reported to the agency in the past day. The outbreak of rare fungal meningitis has been linked to steroid shots for back pain.
Virginia's cases rose to 30 on Thursday, including one fatality. The commonwealth's number of cases includes at least three residents of West Virginia who had received shots in Virginia.
The Virginia Department of Health said earlier in the week that all 689 people who received injections there had received the contaminated medication.
However, not all of the patients were injected in the spine. Some received the injections in their knees, necks or other joints. As of Tuesday, all known cases of meningitis there occurred in people who were injected in the spine.
Maryland has not released new numbers Thursday, but as of Wednesday, the state had nine cases, including one death.
Meningitis cases linked to the contaminated medication have occurred in nine other states: Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee.
A specialty pharmacy in Massachusetts has recalled the steroid that was sent to clinics in 23 states, as well as everything else it makes. As many as 13,000 may have received the shots contaminated by meningitis.
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