Grady Memorial Hospital officials are investigating a spike in Legionnaires’ dis

[Guest guest]

" We've hired an independent lab to conduct tests,

On the local news they showed a blip of the lab doing the testing.

PatCon labs that was developed by the CDC. I would NOT call that

independent.

KC

GRADY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

Legionnaires' disease found in 4 Grady patients

By CHRISTIAN BOONE, MARCUS K. GARNER

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2009/02/05/gra

dy_legionnaires.html

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Grady Memorial Hospital officials are investigating a spike in

Legionnaires' disease.

Four patients who were recently hospitalized at Grady have

contracted the bacterial infection in the past month, according to

Grady's Web site. In a typical year, the hospital might see two or

three cases.

Matt Gove, Grady senior vice president, said parts of the 11th and

12th floors — which have patient rooms — have been shut down while

the hospital tests water and tries to determine if the disease is

originating inside the hospital. About 80 beds out of 953 are closed

for now.

He would not discuss the condition of the four patients or whether

they're still in the hospital.

" Currently, we're taking all necessary step to identify whether the

cause is inside the hospital or out in the community, " Gove

said. " We've hired an independent lab to conduct tests, and we'll

have preliminary results on Monday. "

According to Grady's Web advisory, the disease is not spread from

one person to another.

Those most vulnerable to Legionnaires' disease are patients with

serious medical conditions such as organ transplant, chronic lung

disease and HIV/AIDS.

An infection can cause death within 5 to 30 percent of cases,

according to information from the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention. It is treatable with antibiotics, officials say.

Symptoms typically develop within 2 to 10 days after exposure and

include a high fever (over 101 degrees), coughing, shortness of

breath, muscle aches and diarrhea.

The hospital is asking patients who think they may be currently ill

with the disease to call 404-616-0600.

The disease got its name in 1976, when attendees of an American

Legion convention in Philadelphia were diagnosed with a type of

pneumonia common to the bacteria.