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<p>Jeff Beck, among the most innovative and certainly the most unpredictable of ’60s guitar heroes, has died. He was 78.</p><p>A fleet, imaginative soloist, Beck brought formidable instrumental firepower to British band the Yardbirds, which he joined in 1965 as a replacement for Eric Clapton. Entirely at home with the group’s blues roots, he burnished their pop hits with an adventurous and virtually unprecedented use of feedback, sustain and fuzz.</p>

On behalf of his family, it is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of Jeff Beck’s passing. After suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis, he peacefully passed away yesterday. His family asks for privacy while they process this tremendous loss.

Three of eight people who contracted bacterial meningitis this year have died, and all three had sex with other men, Los Angeles County health officials said Thursday. The confirmation came a day after the Department of Public Health urged gay men who had HIV or multiple partners to be vaccinated against invasive meningococcal disease.

"Health officials work to diffuse fears of national epidemic"“Gay” sex is becoming even more dangerous. Health officials are warning sexually active “gay” men about an outbreak of potentially deadly bacterial meningitis in Los Angeles and New York. The disease has infected 22 people in New York and caused seven deaths since 2010. Health officials in Los Angeles are testing to see if the strain infecting “gay” men there is the same one hitting New York. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation began offering free meningitis vaccines today after a “gay” man from West Hollywood was declared brain dead on Friday. Thirty-three-year-old lawyer...

Officials: Bacterial meningitis kills two Oklahoma students March 11, 2010 1:36 p.m. EST STORY HIGHLIGHTS * Students from Oologah-Talala public school district in rural Oklahoma * Authorities are investigating four other possible cases of bacterial meningitis * Medical team may screen students, begin vaccinations, school superintendent says (CNN) -- Authorities are investigating six possible cases of bacterial meningitis -- including two deaths -- in rural Oklahoma elementary school students. The Rogers County Health Department and Oklahoma State Department of Health said two children from Oologah-Talala public school district have died from the disease. One of them was an 8-year-old, said...

It can take just hours after the symptoms appear for someone to die from bacterial meningitis. Now, after years of research, experts at The University of Nottingham have finally discovered how the deadly meningococcal bacteria is able to break through the body's natural defence mechanism and attack the brain. The discovery could lead to better treatment and vaccines for meningitis and could save the lives of hundreds of children. Bacterial meningitis in childhood is almost exclusively caused by the respiratory tract pathogens Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, and Haemophilus influenzae. The mechanism used by these lethal germs to break through the...