Legionnaires' disease claims second victim

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Tuesday, June 18, 2002

Disease claims second victim

By Anastasi

Staff Writer

A 75-year-old man, the first person diagnosed with Legionnaires' disease

last week at a Horsham nursing home, has died.

HORSHAM - A 75-year-old resident of the Madlyn and Leonard Abramson Center

for Jewish Life - the first diagnosed with Legionnaires' disease last week -

died Monday morning.

" We are sorry to report that the 75-year-old man who was at Abington

Memorial Hospital passed away this morning, " said Dr. Denman, the

facility's medical director, who did not release the name of the victim, the

second to die in the outbreak.

She also reported Monday that a 10th case was diagnosed in an 82-year-old

female resident of the D Wing, where officials at the center believe all the

afflicted came in contact with the Legionella bacteria.

" Since Friday we have had no nursing home residents come down with

symptoms, " said Denman. " But a resident who has been at Abington has tested

positive. "

Environmental samples taken from inside the wing - which officials had hoped

would pinpoint the source over the weekend - have yet to determine where the

bacteria had been growing.

In the absence of any test results, the center postponed Monday's plan to

reopen the D Wing, even though Denman has reported that site remediation is

finished.

" The residents are ready to move back, but we will wait until we have some

preliminary results, " said Denman.

The testing involves using the estimated 100 samples taken from water

sources in and around the center and attempting to grow the Legionella

organism by subjecting each sample to conditions known to promote

development of the bacteria.

" Nothing is showing up yet, " Denman said. " The organism takes a long time to

grow, so it may take up to a few more days. "

According to Harriet Morton, spokeswoman for the Montgomery County Health

Department, the samples arrived at a state laboratory in Lionville, Chester

County, on Wednesday evening, but she was unsure when the testing actually

started.

Asked whether the lack of growth in the samples taken at the center could

indicate that none were gleaned from the actual source, Anita Criely, the

department's deputy director of personal health services, said there were a

number of other possibilities.

" This is a very slow grower and we have to be patient, " she said. " Also, it

is not unlikely that we'll never know. Dr. (ph) DiMino (health

department director) always says that this is a very elusive organism. They

have to have a certain amount of it in the sample. "

In March 2001, four Legionnaires' cases - two fatal - were diagnosed at an

automotive engine manufacturing plant in Cleveland, Ohio, and officials were

never able to cite a specific source, according to the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention's weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report.

If the samples from the Abramson Center do not produce definitive results,

the question becomes when the D Wing should reopen.

" That is one of the issues we are grappling with now, " said Criely.

Taking more samples does not seem likely.

" There has been remediation in the areas we suspected, " she said. " We are

not expecting to find the organism now if we go back for more samples. "

Hospital officials reported Monday that the newest Legionnaires' patient was

in good condition, as were two other female Legionnaires' patients - ages 98

and 88.

At the center, Denman said two of their patients - an 89-year-old man and a

101-year-old woman - are improving but " not out of the woods " and the other

two women - ages 92 and 85 - are recovering. A 102-year-old woman, who has

not been identified, died there over the weekend, less than a week after

being diagnosed.

She and Monday's victim had " chronic medical conditions that made them more

susceptible, " Denman said.

An employee who worked in the center's D Wing has also tested positive and

is recovering at home.

Since the incubation period can last up to 10 days, more cases from the

initial exposure could crop up this week even though the site has been

decontaminated, she added.

Anastasi can be contacted via e-mail at janastasi@...