The first thing you need to know health officials believe this is an uncontagious fungal form of meningitis that's unrelated to the recent meningitis death at MTSU.  Instead these 11 identified cases all trace back to a procedure at a St. Thomas outpatient clinic that may have been tainted by mold."

Under a microscope, Aspergillus does not appear dangerous but health officials believe this mold may play a role in two deaths.
 
"This is a very very unusual event and let me stress unusual event," said Dr. John Dreyzehner.    

Tennessee Health Commissioner Dr. John Dreyzehner says the mold is one suspect in a meningitis outbreak that has infected at least 11 people in Tennessee.

All of them received an epidermal steroid injection at the Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgery Center and one theory is this mold somehow contaminated the procedure,

"When you take a bacteria or a fungus and it's physically placed in a normally sterile space with particular situations it can wreak real havok and that may be what's occurring in this situation," added Dr. John Dreyzehner

Commissioner Dreyzehner says an unnamed out of state company prepared all of the steroid injections.

The Center for Disease Control is now investigating what happened and it is believed the number of infected patients could rise not only here in Tennessee but in more than a dozen states where this company ships injections.

"We wish everyone would recover and we wish we would identify no more cases and God willing that will be the case but we have to be realistic," said Dr. John Dreyzehner
    
One reason why those numbers could grow in Tennessee, some 737 people underwent this prodedure during the  July 30th through September 20th time frame that’s a concern.

Saint Thomas has notified all of them to be alert for symptoms and the hospital released this statement.

"Our first concern is maintaining our commitment to ensuring the safety of our patients and our thoughts and prayers are with those impacted patients and their families."    
    
St. Thomas has temporarily shut down the outpatient facility and we're told all of the injections in question have been confiscated.   Also there's a team of specialists that are working to determine what's the best way to treat the people who are now a part of this outbreak.
Sky Arnold Fox 17 News."

UPDATE: State Health Department Addresses Meningitis Cases