Corey Gutwasser, a 25-year-old in Lakeville, Minnesota is out of his medically induced coma that he was put in last month due to Legionnaires’ disease. According to the University of Minnesota Medical Center, he was exposed to Legionella bacteria in November and was put on life support in December, but is now in stable condition. Gutwasser’s mother, Melanie Buetow, said that her son will need physical rehabilitation to relearn how to talk and eat. The Minnesota Department of Health conducted an investigation and cited Babe’s Bar and Grill in Lakeville as a potential source of Gutwasser’s Legionnaires’ disease. Gutwasser worked at…
School officials in Elgin, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, are considering a more intensive Legionella testing schedule after three schools were shut down due to the bacteria last year. The Elgin Courier-News found that Essential Water Technologies, the water treatment company for School District U-46, recommended quarterly Legionella testing for cooling towers. School officials want even more stringent testing schedules to err on the side of caution; however, no timeline is set. In September 2015, three schools and an administration center in the Elgin were shut down due to high levels of Legionella in cooling towers. 3,000 students were evacuated. To read more about…
Every year thousands of cases of Legionnaires’ disease are reported that disrupt lives and place a great burden on businesses that could have potentially avoided outbreaks in their facilities. More and more institutions are enacting preventative measures to ensure that Legionnaires’ disease does not reach their populations. The questions is, then, what advice are these businesses and/or people following to guarantee that they will not have to deal with this issue? Expert Sherrie Dornberger of McKnight’s News corroborates a suggestion made by the Center for Disease Control (CDC): don’t build a fountain. Many cases of Legionnaires’ disease arise from the…