Chad Grant, the CEO of McLaren Flint Hospital, the facility at the center of the Flint Legionnaires’ Outbreak, released an extremely critical report as a response to a state health department order for the hospital to “correct conditions”. Grant accused state officials of “blaming and attacking” McLaren Flint, and treating it as if it were the sole cause of the Flint outbreak in order to deflect attention from themselves. He referred to the accusations as “unwarranted and unjustified”. Grant points to the Flint municipal water system, which changed its source from Lake Huron to the Flint River, as the driving force behind the…
The VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System has extended water restrictions due to the discovery of Legionella bacteria at its University Drive location. In late January water restrictions were enacted to kill the bacteria in Building 1. Those restrictions have been extended to ensure the water supply has time to sanitize while the sample testing is being repeated. A patient of the Pittsburgh VA was diagnosed with Legionella pneumonia in February and has since been treated. The patient had visited the campus during the 10 day onset of the illness as an outpatient. “At this time, evidence suggests the patient contracted Legionella…
The former director of disease control and prevention at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Corrine Miller, has been sentenced for her involvement in the 2014-2015 outbreak of Legionnaires Disease that killed 12 people in Flint. Corrine Miller admitted to knowing about 100 cases of Legionnaires Disease in the Flint area and failing to report these findings to local hospitals, as well as the general public. Last September, Miller pleaded no contest to a charge of willful neglect of duty, the least serious of the charges filed against her. Miller received 1 year of probation, as well as…
An emergency has been declared in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. A Legionella bacterium has been found in the water systems in multiple apartment buildings resulting in the Emergency Commission activating an emergency operations center to handle it. Two apartment blocks in the Zirmunai neighborhood tested positive for the bacteria that causes Legionnaires disease and a third block in the Lazdynai neighborhood is being tested. “We have two deaths and a third incident is still under investigation. This affects over 500 people because there are three buildings and it takes more than 24 hours to eliminate (the emergency situation). Based…
Researchers the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine are currently working on a project to develop single-celled organisms that seek out and kill potentially deadly bacteria. The team was inspired by amoebas that have been known to surround and kill yeast bacteria and develop ‘soldier cells’ out of these amoebas. Using a $5 million dollar grant from DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the team is first focusing on making these cells target Legionella and Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria. If the project is successful, the possible applications outside of the laboratory are exciting. These amoeba soldiers could be used…
Faltec Europe Ltd, a car parts firm in the UK, has admitted charges relating to an outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease and an explosion on it’s premises. In 2015 the factory was ordered to shut down four cooling towers by the Health and Safety Executive following the discovery of significant levels of legionella were found on site. Between October 2014 and May 2015 four workers and a nearby resident were hospitalized. In September 2015 the company was given the all clear after following safety measures. Another investigation by the Health and Safety Executive relates to the explosion risks at the plant in…
Last month, famed environmental activist Erin Brockovich and the Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires’ Disease joined forces in Albany to draw attention to the continued rise of Legionnaires’ cases in New York even after the deadly 2014-2015 outbreaks in the Bronx. According to the report released by the Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires’ Disease, New York State leads the nation in Legionnaires’ cases. The report estimates that in 2016 14% of all U.S cases of Legionnaires’ Disease occurred in New York. The report states that the state’s regulatory focus on water cooling towers neglects what they consider to be the real problem. The…
A late 2016 test conducted by the CDC has found a genetic link between samples of Legionella found in the phlegm of patients at McLaren Flint Hospital and Legionella found in water samples taken from multiple water sources at McLaren Flint Hospital. The CDC found that around 99% of the alleles of both samples matched, reaching the threshold for what is considered to be a genetic match. McLaren Flint Hospital was at the epicenter of the 2014-2015 Flint Legionnaires’ Outbreak that corresponded with the much wider-known Flint Water Crisis. Of the 12 reported fatalities in the Flint-area, 10 fatalities were associated with…
53-year-old New Zealand resident, Susan Dromgool, slipped into a two-week coma after contracting Legionnaires’ disease in December 2016. She had been using potting soil to plant succulents and believed she had taken the appropriate safety measures since she wore gloves and used the potting mix in a well-ventilated area. However, the evening after planting the succulents, she began to experience chills and her symptoms progressively got worse. She was admitted to the hospital and put in an induced coma. She woke up approximately two weeks later with no memory of the events surrounding her illness. Ms. Dromgool gradually recovered and…
Health officials in Fresno County, Calif. reported earlier this week that a patient at a nursing home died due to Legionnaires’ disease. Additional details about the patient and date of death were not released; however, the health department has been investigating the NorthPointe Health Centre since January 23, 2017. According to health officials, no other cases of Legionnaires’ disease were identified at this nursing home. A different nursing home, Horizon Health & Subacute Center in northeast Fresno, however, also experienced a Legionella scare in January when the bacteria were found at the facility. A resident was diagnosed with a respiratory illness, but the…