RALEIGH, N.C. -- A fourth case of rare fungal meningitis has been linked to a painkiller from a South Carolina drug maker, state health officials said Friday.

The latest patient was hospitalized a week ago and is receiving antifungal therapy, the state Department of Health and Human Services said in a news release. The patient's name wasn't released.

A patient died last month and two are being treated for the illness linked to injections of the steroid, methlyprednisolone.

The manufacturer, South Carolina Urgent Care Pharmacy in Spartanburg, S.C., stopped making the drug and recalled existing vials.

Three North Carolina pain clinics received shipments of the drug: FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital Pain Clinic in Pinehurst, Wayne Memorial Hospital in Goldsboro and Johnston Pain Management in Jacksonville.

Three patients, including the most recent as well as the 77-year-old woman who died, received the drug at the Pinehurst clinic. The fourth case was at Johnston Pain Management. A total of 870 patients in North Carolina received the drug, state officials said.

A spokeswoman for the pharmacy couldn't be reached immediately for comment Friday.

Last week, a group of patients who received the drug sued the pharmacy and said they want a fund set up to pay $75,000 in medical expenses for each patient.

The pharmacy's founder has said he doesn't believe his company was responsible for the contamination.

"We are continuing to cooperate with public officials as they investigate exactly what caused this situation, whether from the medication, the way it was administered or other commonalities they are uncovering among the affected patients," pharmacy owner Ray Burns said last week.

The patients who became ill received injections of the drug in their spines between April and July.

No other North Carolina clinics received the drug, but smaller amounts were shipped to clinics in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia and South Carolina.

Officials said fungal meningitis is rare. The mold Wangiella dermatitidis was thought to have contaminated the drug before the injections.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are testing unused vials of the drug for contamination with Wangiella. State and federal health agencies are investigating as well.

The incubation period for developing symptoms of meningitis may be as long as three months after the steroid injection, and officials said additional cases could develop as late as December.

Meningitis is an infection of the lining of the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms of the infection include severe headaches, fever, stiff neck, vomiting and worsening back pain.