Florida governor accidentally gives out phone sex line number for meningitis hotline

The mistake came during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday (Getty Images)

Florida Governor Rick Scott was embarrassed this week after accidentally giving out the number for a phone sex line telling concerned Floridians that it was a meningitis hotline.

The mistake came during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday when Mr Scott gave out the number - which he said was the toll-free help line.

However, Florida residents who rang the number were greeted with a recording of a woman's voice saying: "Hello boys, thank you for calling me on my anniversary."

The Governor's office was alerted by a public radio station in Tampa, WUSF, which was monitoring the cabinet meeting and posted the number on its website.

The station said it was "quickly notified by a reader that the number instead connected to an adult telephone line."

Yesterday, Jack Schutz, a spokesman for the governor said that Mr Scott had accidentally misread the number, but had subsequently corrected it 20 minutes later.

The correct number for the Florida Fungal Meningitis Hotline is 866-523-7339, but Scott got one of the digits mixed up.

The embarrassing announcement came on Tuesday as four more deaths were announced from the disease.

The death toll from the illness, which is thought to be linked to contaminated steroid shots, is expected to rise over the next few days.

Up to 13,000 people could be at risk of contracting the disease after receiving injections to treat back pain and other ailments.

States that have been hit by the infection include Tennessee, which has had six reported deaths and 44 cases of meningitis, Michigan with three deaths and 28 cases, Virginia with one death and 27 cases and Maryland with one death and nine cases.

Since the outbreak began 138 people have contracted meningitis and 12 have died, including one in Florida, according to the latest tally from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.