United States health officials have confirmed the presence of a deadly fungus in one of three lots of steroids tied to a national meningitis outbreak, as the death toll rose to 20.
The Food and Drug Administration said it was still testing two additional lots of methylprednisolone acetate, the steroid used to treat back pain, for the presence of the rare Exserohilum fungus.
It is also testing other injectable drugs that were supplied by the New England Compounding Center in Massachusetts.
Nine new cases have brought the national total to 254, including the first in New York - the 16th state with confirmed infections.
About 14,000 patients are believed to have been exposed to the potentially tainted steroid and 97% of them have been contacted so far.
