August 28, 2002—Cooling towers and air conditioning systems in and around Oldbury and Smethwick in the West Midlands have been examined following another outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease in which one man has died.
Four people remain in hospital and two have been discharged. No new cases have been reported in the last 48 hours. A spokesperson for the Health & Safety Executive confirmed that following the fatality, the police are now taking a lead role in the investigation.
Around 40 sites have been visited by a team, comprising local public health officers, officials from the HSE and a national expert in water borne contamination from the Public Health Laboratory Service.
The focus is now on a handful of sites including Rhodia Consumer Specialities in Oldbury. Reports suggest two of those affected work at the factory which manufactures flame retardant coatings for textiles.
In a statement Rhodia said all its 20 or so cooling systems were checked regularly, with a weekly internal bacterial analysis and a quarterly external audit.
Dr John Middleton, head of the outbreak team said: “I am pleased to say that over the past 48 hours we have not had any further patients confirmed as demonstrating the symptoms of legionnaires’ disease. The four remaining patients in hospital continue to respond well to treatment.
“There is no risk to anyone who may have visited the Sandwell, City or Stafford hospitals, as the disease is not contagious and cannot be passed person to person. Therefore anyone who has a hospital appointment or is due to have surgery, should still attend.
“Intensive investigations continue to isolate the source of the outbreak, and in the meantime precautionary treatment to make safe those sites of potential greater risk is continuing”.
In Barrow in Furness, scene of the UK’s worst outbreak of Legionnaire’s Disease, the worst would appear to be over with 26 people remaining in hospital but only one new patient testing positive in the last few days.
Four people have died since the outbreak at the beginning of the month. In statements issued at the end of last week Ian Cumming, the chief executive of Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Trust said: “The number of people remaining in hospital has now fallen to such a level that with the exception of non-urgent cases who may require intensive care or high dependency beds we intend to resume full normal activity at Furness General Hospital from Tuesday when our Major Incident Plan will be stood down.
“I am delighted to report that almost all of our Legionnaires’ Disease in-patients are now improving day by day, with only a small number remaining poorly. In the last 24 hours the hospital has seen one further patient who tested positive for the Legionella antigen, giving a total of 133 people diagnosed by us during the acute phase of their illness. This patient has a direct link to the Forum 28 area in late July and has been ill at home for some weeks.”
The Health & Safety Executive has yet to officially confirm that the agent found at the Forum 28 center is the same as that responsible for the deaths in Barrow. The HSE has added a useful summary of facts about Legionnaires’ disease plus links to practical information on prevention and control to its Web site. —Richard Byatt
Reprinted with permission; copyright 2002 i-FM
