A Maryland retirement community implemented a water treatment program earlier this summer after residents contracted Legionnaires’ disease. The water has been tested and health officials have now cleared the facility for normal operation. A case of Legionnaires’ disease at the Lutheran Village at Miller’s Grant in Ellicott City, MD, prompted management to shut off the water at the facility in early June. Two more residents were eventually diagnosed with the disease. While water was shut off, residents used bottled water for cooking and cleaning and avoided showers in the bathrooms, and some stayed at hotels. Health officials think it likely…
More people have been sickened by Legionnaires’ disease at a condominium in Ocean Park, Maryland. The Golden Sands Club Condominium reported the second round of cases in less than a year. Last November, four people who had previously stayed at the Golden Sands Club Condominium were diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease. The guests had stayed at the large beachfront complex during October 2015. Though the outbreak was never officially linked to the condominiums, facility managers tested the water there and found Legionella bacteria. Managers installed a water treatment system in April in an attempt to control the bacteria. They also notified…
Public awareness of the problem of Legionnaires’ disease in Flint, Michigan may finally be paying off. A research project headed by Wayne State University in Michigan will investigate the possibility that water from the Flint River was contaminated with Legionella bacteria in addition to lead. After nearly 100 Flint residents contracted Legionnaires’ disease in 2014 and 2015, with 12 cases proving fatal, experts wondered whether the outbreak was related to the city’s water system. (By contrast, only one case of Legionnaires’ disease has been reported in the Flint area so far this year.) Little testing was done for Legionella, though, despite the…
A recent Huffington Post article draws attention to the nationwide problem of Legionnaires’ disease and to the benefits of mandatory tests for the disease. In a June 30 piece, Joseph Erbentraut discusses the deadly risk of Legionnaires’ disease as well as the surprising absence of legislation to prevent it. Erbentraut was prompted to write the piece by the recent Legionellosis outbreak in Flint, MI, but the article draws attention to the nationwide prevalence of the disease and the threat it poses to the elderly and infirm. Experts quoted in the article point out the fact that Legionnaires’ disease is often underreported as its…
The first case of Legionnaires’ disease this year has been reported in the Flint, MI area. The news comes less than a week after county officials issued a statement saying that no new cases of Legionnaires’ disease had been reported in Flint’s county in 2016. In a statement released on June 30, the Genesee County Health Department stated that no residents of the area have contracted the disease in 2016. On July 6, however, officials from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced that a patient from the Genesee County area had been diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease. The…
The Quincy Veterans Home in Quincy, Illinois has unveiled a new water system designed to combat Legionnaires’ disease. An August 2015 outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease at the home sickened 53 people and caused 12 deaths. (Read our blog post for more about this outbreak.) During the outbreak, residents drank bottled water and avoided showers as officials disinfected water tanks with chlorine and shut down potential sources of the bacteria. As investigators noted, the veterans’ home posed several challenges to officials as they sough to stop the spread of the disease. The sprawling, 200-acre campus contains 48 buildings, making efforts to identify and…
Legionella bacteria in the water supply of the Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh likely caused a cancer patient to contract Legionnaires’ disease. Officials previously believed that the patient, now recovered, had contracted the illness elsewhere, but new tests show that the bacteria originated in the hospital. After a cancer patient who had previously been treated at the hospital was readmitted with respiratory problems at the end of May, doctors tested the patient for Legionnaires’ disease. (Click here for our original blog post on this story.) The test was positive, and the patient was treated and made a full recovery. At the…
A recent investigation into a pneumonia death in Flint has demonstrated the need for hospitals to release Legionella test results and for diligent testing of patients at risk for Legionnaires’ disease. In a June 28 article for Bridge Magazine, Chastity Pratt Dawsey reports on the case of Bertie Marble. Mrs. Marble, a 68-year-old resident of Flint, Michigan, passed away in March 2015 after a spell of ill health. During her final stay at McLaren Regional Medical Center in Flint, Mrs. Marble was diagnosed with “healthcare-associated pneumonia”. McLaren had found Legionella bacteria in its water system in late 2014 but had not revealed…
A birth center in southern England has been cleaned and will soon reopen after having closed for the second time this year because of positive tests for Legionella. Paulton Birth Centre in Somerset was closed for maintenance in early June after a sample of water was found to contain Legionella. The bacteria was found in a section of the center that does not serve patients directly. Now, the water system has been tested again after a cleaning and no Legionella has been found. A spokesperson for the center’s owner, NHS Property Services, said that the water system had been thoroughly…
A new website aimed at spreading information about Legionella and Legionnaires’ disease has recently been launched. PreventLegionnaires.org provides basic facts about disease transmission and prevention, and offers advice to managers and businesses on how to manage risk and implement plans to keep Legionella in check. The website also offers downloadable resources specific to healthcare facilities and industrial or commercial buildings. PreventLegionnaires.org is published in association with the CDC and a number of health organizations, and it is funded by several companies that produce cooling towers. Cooling towers have sometimes been to blame for the spread of Legionella. For more…