There is a recent update in the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak that occurred at a senior living facility in Baltimore, Maryland: a seventh case has been confirmed. Media reports indicated that the ill individual is a 72 year old woman. In early October the living facility was the site of six cases of legionellosis, or Legionnaires’ disease. Since the reported illnesses, the Centers for Disease Control has conducted an investigation, and the building’s management has hired a private firm to clean the building’s water system. After the initial outbreak was reported, residents were given cases of water by the building’s management to use instead of the building’s water system. However, the woman is the first reported case to have occurred after the attempted cleaning. It’s important to recognize that once legionella, the bacteria responsible for Legionnaires’ disease, has colonized a building’s water system, it will contaminate the entire system, which makes it difficult to completely eliminate.

A recent outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease at a Vernon Hills, Illinois retirement community has left two individuals dead and three ill. While confirmation of the fifth case arrived on November 14th, the illness is believed to have struck sometime in October, according to Kelly Jakubek, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health. The two deaths occurred in late September and early November. In addition to the five confirmed cases, several more suspected cases are under investigation. Investigations are being conducted by the CDC and Illinois Public Health Department, as well as an additional one being conducted by a private firm hired by the community’s management. Water samples were taken on November 5th with results estimated to return within two weeks. Among the suspected sources of the disease are the building’s 6-story rain forest atrium, waterfall and spa. Because legionellosis is contracted through the inhalation of tiny water droplets containing the legionella bacteria, these structures have been shut down. The Vernon Hills retirement community is home to roughly 260 residents.