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Tuesday, October 22, 2013
(WDNG) - The respiratory illness Legionella pneumonia continues to spread in north Alabama as state officials narrow down a source. Assistant State Health Officer Dr. Karen Landers on Monday reports the number of confirmed cases jumped to 15 while another 10 patients await test results. An elderly patient diagnosed with the illness died last week.
The Alabama Department of Public Health earlier this month began their investigation after two patients from the Glenwood Health Care facility were taken to a Florence hospital. Landers said in a Monday afternoon release that state and local physicians, hospitals and urgent care clinics have been “taking our advice to do additional testing for Legionella on their pneumonia patients.”
State officials said last week they had connected all confirmed cases to the Florence nursing home. The nearby Regency Square Mall in Florence turned off cooling towers as a precaution. On Monday, state officials found the Legionella bacteria on two towers at the mall and one cooling tower at a Southwire in town.
According to information from the Alabama Department of Public Health, cooling towers on rooftops can “dispense water droplets over some distance.”
State health officials on Monday said the Glenwood facility has not been positively identified as a source of contaminated water vapor and remains open and operational. No new patients have been identified since Oct. 10.
The the bacteria that causes the illness commonly known as Legionnaires’ disease can be found in hot tubs, water heater and large plumbing systems and usually affects people who already have chronic lung problems. It reportedly gets its nickname from an American Legion convention in Philadelphia in 1976 that saw a new bacteria sicken more than 200 people and kill 34.
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Keywords: Alabama Department Public Health,Dr. Karen Landers,Legionella,Legionnaires' disease,Florence,nursing home,mall,Southwire
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