54 Cases Of Legionnaires' Disease Confirmed In Britain

August 7, 2002

8-5-2

(AFP) - Fifty-four cases of Legionnaires' disease have been confirmed in

Cumbria, northern England, and 16 other suspected cases have been

hospitalised.

One council official has been suspended and council workers were being

questioned by police in connection with the outbreak of the potentially

deadly form of pneumonia, Sky News television said Monday.

Of the 54 confirmed cases, 18 more than on Saturday, 15 were in intensive

care in hospitals in Barrow-in-Furness and the surrounding region.

The outbreak has already claimed its first victim, an 89-year-old man who

died Friday in Barrow.

Officials have warned that more fatalities are likely in what media reports

have described as Britain's worst outbreak of the disease for a decade.

A technician with Barrow council who was responsible for maintaining the air

conditioning at the Forum 28 community centre thought to be the source of

the outbreak has been suspended as a precautionary measure.

Local authorities confirmed that legionella bacteria had been found in the

centre's water treatment installations.

The authorities closed the downtown community centre opposite the town hall

on Thursday after reports that its air conditioning plant had been pumping

steam into the surrounding streets.

Around 1,000 people are believed to use an alleyway alongside the building

every day as a short cut to a bus stop.

Legionnaires' disease is spread by water-borne bacteria which thrive best in

water at 37 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit) and spread quickly in

hot water and air conditioning systems.

The disease was first detected at a convention of US war veterans in 1976 in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when 30 members of the American Legion died.

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