On Sept. 24, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health received notice from health officials in Tennessee that six patients had been diagnosed with a rare form of fungal meningitis. These patients had a number of risk factors in common, including a steroid injection which was made at the New England Compounding Center, located in Framingham, Mass. Two days later, the state Department of Public Health began an on-site investigation of the NECC’s premises and shortly thereafter, found fungal matter in sealed vials of the allegedly sterile steroid known as methylprednisolone acetate. It’s unclear how the fungus, which is found in soil and plants, reached the vials.