Melbourne - Legionnaires' disease victim dies

[Ronan Kelly]

Legionnaires' disease victim dies
Thursday, June 03, 2010 ? 08:38pm


A Melbourne man has died of legionnaires' disease after being infected in a cluster of three cases.

The disease was found in two contaminated cooling towers on top of low rise office buildings in Doncaster in Melbourne's east.

Victoria's chief health officer John Carnie said the towers have been decontaminated twice and pose no future risk to the public.

In addition to the 66-year-old man who died in Box Hill Hospital on May 11, two other men, aged 33 and 40, were diagnosed with the disease but have recovered.

The contaminated towers are on buildings at 666 Doncaster Road and 2 Frederick Street.

Dr Carnie on Thursday advised anyone who has come down with flu-like symptoms who had been in the area before May 26 to contact their doctor and ask for a legionnaires' test.
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/National/2010/06/03/Legionnaires_disease_victim_dies_469513.html

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Melbourne - Legionnaires' disease victim dies

Man dies of legionnaire's disease June 3, 2010 - 6:54PM


AAP

An elderly man has become the third person to die from legionnaire's disease in Victoria this year, after an outbreak in Melbourne's east.

Anyone with flu-like symptoms who was in the Doncaster area in the days before May 26, including Westfield Doncaster shopping centre, has been advised to get tested for the illness.

The disease was detected in two contaminated cooling towers on top of low-rise office buildings at 666 Doncaster Road and 2 Frederick Street.

Advertisement: Story continues belowVictoria's chief health officer John Carnie said the towers have been decontaminated twice and pose no future risk.

"At this stage, there is no reason to be concerned for the people living or working in Doncaster," he told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.

"These cooling towers were disinfected at the time we took the samples and they've been re-disinfected again yesterday."

Testing of nearby towers at Westfield Doncaster and the Manningham Council offices returned negative results.

Dr Carnie said anyone with a chest infection who has recently been in the area should contact their doctor and undergo a simple urine test for the disease.

"There are large numbers of people passing through that area on a daily basis," he said.

"Certainly the owners of those buildings have been informed and we have asked them to inform their staff."

In addition to the 66-year-old man who died in Box Hill Hospital on May 11, two other men, aged 33 and 40, were hospitalised with the disease, but have since recovered and been discharged.

One lived in the area and the other was in Doncaster, presumably for shopping, Dr Carnie said.

There have been 40 cases of legionnaire's disease in Victoria this year, compared with 23 for the same period last year. Four people died from the disease in 2009.

Dr Carnie said two other people had died in Victoria this year, but could not give further details.

He said the increase in cases may be attributed to warmer temperatures.

"Certainly when you have much longer runs of warm weather you can have perhaps more cases," he said.

Dr Carnie wrote to almost 4000 businesses and state authorities in May warning cooling towers must be properly maintained.

He also wrote to doctors and hospitals across the state, asking them to be on the alert for cases of legionnaire's disease.

The Department of Health was notified of the 66-year-old man's condition on May 10.

The department then tested several cooling towers in the Doncaster area, but the results came back negative.

Last Monday and Tuesday, the department was notified of the two other cases in the same area and conducted more testing. Two of the towers tested returned positive results on Wednesday this week.

The department is conducting further tests to confirm whether the bacteria in the cooling towers matches the patients' bacteria.

Onset of legionnaire's disease can be up to 10 days after initial contact with the bacteria.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/man-dies-of-legionnaires-disease-20100603-x2in.html