Samaritan Medical Center had its water retested on May 15, 2017 after the legionella bacteria was in found in the hospital’s water systems. The hospital originally reported that it expected testing results to be returned by the following Friday; however, Spokeswoman Krista A. Kittle says that the testing will not be completing on the samples for at least another 10 days. For more information, click here
St Elizabeth Medical Center in Utica, New York has found small amounts of legionella bacteria in a handful of sampling locations throughout the campus. The results have been reported to the New York State Department of Health, and the hospital is currently in the process of remediating the presence of legionella. The tests were conducted in accordance with New York state guidelines that require all hospitals within the state to routinely sample their facilities for the presence of legionella. These guidelines were implemented in mid-2016 in response to two deadly outbreaks of Legionnaires’ Disease in the Bronx that took the lives of…
Health officials in Fresno County, Calif. reported earlier this week that a patient at a nursing home died due to Legionnaires’ disease. Additional details about the patient and date of death were not released; however, the health department has been investigating the NorthPointe Health Centre since January 23, 2017. According to health officials, no other cases of Legionnaires’ disease were identified at this nursing home. A different nursing home, Horizon Health & Subacute Center in northeast Fresno, however, also experienced a Legionella scare in January when the bacteria were found at the facility. A resident was diagnosed with a respiratory illness, but the…
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services was previously prohibited from accessing documents about Legionella cases at McLaren-Flint Hospital due to a protective order. However, now the Michigan Court of Appeals has ordered the hospital to produce these documents. The Department was trying to obtain these documents to investigate the cases of Legionnaires’ disease caused by the contaminated water in Flint, Michigan. According to a spokesperson for Governor Rick Snyder – Anna Heaton – the Protective Order prevented the Department from performing their duties of protecting the public. The Hospital felt the Protective Order was necessary due to lawsuits…
A resident of the Charlestown retirement community tested positive for Legionella bacteria and is currently hospitalized. Baltimore County health officials have ordered testing of the water in the Caton Woods Building within the community. Dan Dunne, spokesman for the community, indicated that Caton Woods is a new building and only a dozen or so residents currently live there. New residents were in the process of being moved in, but this has since been halted. The source of the bacteria that caused the resident’s illness has not yet been determined, and the results of the water testing performed at the Caton…
The Ohio Department of Health, in collaboration with the Lake County General Health district, has confirmed the cooling tower of a local business as the source of an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease. The outbreak, which began in July, seems to have had several sources, and the cooling tower has been linked to at least three of the ten cases. Health officials announced that an environmental assessment at Consolidated Precision Products, a business in Eastlake, revealed the presence of Legionella bacteria on November 16, 2016. At least three cases of Legionnaires’ disease were reported in September among individuals who had spent time in the…
A resident of a county-run nursing home in Pennsylvania was diagnosed on October 24 with Legionnaires’ disease, and officials believe she contracted it from her residence. McKeesport Regional Care Center, where the woman lives, has taken measures to guard against the possibility of further cases. The woman was hospitalized and diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease at UPMC McKeesport. After being informed of the case, management at McKeesport RCC distributed bottled water and put the water system at the nursing home out of commission. They also sent a letter informing patients and their families about the diagnosis. Management also sampled water from…
A late-summer cluster of Legionnaires’ disease cases in Buffalo, NY is still under investigation. The investigation began when state-mandated testing revealed that a cooling tower at the East Niagara Hospital contained elevated levels of Legionella bacteria. Testing is now being done to determine whether the strain of Legionella in the patients’ bodies is the same as that in the cooling tower. Recent legislation in New York has required building owner to test all cooling every 90 days and log their results with the State Health Department. In a routine test of the hospital’s cooling tower, levels of Legionella were found to be ten times those allowed…
Three former residents and one employee of Wesley Health Care Center in Saratoga Springs, New York tested positive for Legionella bacteria. The former residents were staying on the same floor while involved in short-term rehabilitation programs at the nursing home. The facility last performed routine tests for Legionella on September 2, 2016, yielding negative results. Saratoga Hospital informed Wesley Health Care Center of the cases of Legionnaires’ disease on October 13, 2016, and dozens of water samples have been taken from the facility since then in an attempt to determine if it is the source of the bacteria. The results of those tests are not yet…
Twelve people have been diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease in Niagara County. Eight of those diagnosed are associated with the Lockport area specifically. A cooling tower at the Eastern Niagara Hospital in Lockport recently tested positive for Legionella bacteria. Under the 2016 New York state regulations, cooling towers must be regularly tested for Legionella, and any cooling towers that test positive must report it to the state and local departments of health. The hospital advised they have since re-cleaned and disinfected the cooling tower, and also in accordance with the 2016 New York state regulations they will also conduct additional testing…