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Dreyzehner: New CDC analysis provides hope

5:24 PM, Oct 24, 2012   |    comments
The New England Compounding Center is shown here on October 5, 2012 in Framingham, Massachusetts. The pharmacy is currently being investigated for producing a contaminated steroid shot that included the meningitis fungus that has killed at least five people. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health says he's seeing what he considers some light at the end of the tunnel in the case of a fungal meningitis outbreak that has killed nine people and sickened 70 others in the state.

The outbreak has been linked to epidural steroid injections that were made by the New England Compounding Center.

In a telephone conference with reporters on Wednesday, Dr. John Dreyzehner referenced a recent analysis released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It says that the risk of stroke or death for a person who received an injection is usually gone 42 days after the injection.

Dreyzehner says a little more than 1,000 people in Tennessee got injections, and all but 250 are now beyond the 42-day window.