Legionnaires' disease cases rise at Illinois veterans home

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER

The death toll from a Legionnaires' disease outbreak at a western Illinois veterans home has climbed to seven, and the state's public health director has warned that more fatalities could occur.

The Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs and the state Department of Public Health said residents of the facility in Quincy who contracted Legionnaire's — a severe form of pneumonia — had underlying medical conditions and an average age of 86.

As of Wednesday, 45 people have been sickened in the outbreak at the facility. Similar outbreaks have been reported in California and New York.

Legionnaires' experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the outbreak prevalence so far this year is not unusual, but that the number of patients involved is larger than typically seen. The outbreak was first identified in Illinois late last week; its source remains undetermined.

FULL story at link.



In this Saturday Aug. 29, 2015 photo, Illinois Veterans Home resident Godfrey Rezba, left, visits with family members out front of Elmore Infirmary in Quincy, Ill. The death toll from a Legionnaires' disease outbreak at the western Illinois veterans home climbed to seven Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015, with the state's public health director suggesting more fatalities are likely. Officials with the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs and the state Department of Public Health said that each of the victims at the 129-year-old facility had underlying medical conditions, with an average age of 86. (Michael Kipley/The Quincy Herald-Whig via AP)

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/e42035c2cb5341d986e5cf9e5068e22d/7-die-legionnaires-disease-illinois-veterans-home

[MADem]

1. How hard is it to clean the a/c cooling towers?

I had a beloved relative who was taken by this illness BEFORE it had a name.

There's no reason for people to die from this--it's pure laziness that kills them.

[Scruffy1]

2. Besides cleaning there could be other problems.

Even if the towers were cleaned you need constant water treatment. Also, in order to spread the bacteria must get into the fresh air intake. This could be a design problem and/or a maintenance issue. Wind drift from the cooling tower entering the fresh air intake is definitely a design problem. it's been my experience that management always skimps on maintenance to save a few bucks in the short run and pays a much higher price in the long run.

[MADem]

3. Absolutely. Design and maintenance are certainly issues, but a little bit of bleach can go a long

way in killing that shit.

It just infuriates me that they can't do the simple things.