4/17/13 - Two elderly Livingston County residents have died as part of the national fungal meningitis outbreak. 87-year-old Joseph Ernest Rushlow of Brighton passed away on April 10th after receiving a tainted steroid injection. His funeral service is planned this Saturday at 11am at St. Patrick Church on Rickett Road. The Michigan Department of Community Health also confirmed the death of a 79-year-old Livingston County woman on April 2nd. As of this week, Michiganâs total case count stood at 259, including 16 deaths. Of those, six were local residents. MDCH Spokeswoman Angela Minicuci could not comment on the specific cause of death for the local cases but says they have all been related to the outbreak, whether the individual was continuing to need treatment and died because of it, never recovered after receiving their steroid injection or their illness contributed to other heath factors. The majority of patients are being treated at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor. While occasional deaths are still occurring, Minicuci says they have not had any new cases in a number of weeks and are hopefully seeing the end of the outbreak in Michigan, which has the highest number of fungal meningitis cases in the nation. (JM)
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