Meningitis Death Toll Rises

Four more deaths blamed on a rare outbreak of meningitis in the U.S. brought the nationwide death toll to 12 Tuesday, setting off further alarms about lax regulation on pharmaceutical-compounding companies like the one responsible for the contaminated steroid injections that caused the outbreak. Members of Congress are calling for tighter regulations, as the number of infected people reaches 121. Health officials worry that it could be November before all patients stricken with meningitis are identified. As many as 13,000 may have received the contaminated injections.