St. Tammany Parish, LA courthouse worker dies of Legionnaires' disease

[Catbird]

Tests being conducted after St. Tammany Parish courthouse worker dies of Legionnaires' disease

January 28, 2013

"Physicians with the state health department met with St. Tammany Parish courthouse officials Monday to provide information and quell concerns after one courthouse worker died of Legionnaires' Disease and another tested positive for the antibodies. Russell Paternostro, who worked in the District Attorney's Office, died Dec. 28, and the case was confirmed as Legionnaires'...

Another employee got sick, and she tested positive for the antibodies of the disease, but not the disease itself, said Ronnie Simpson, a spokesman for St. Tammany Parish government."

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: St. Tammany Parish, LA courthouse worker dies of Legionnaires' disease

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St. Tammany Parish Justice Center ​

</TD></TR><TR><TD>The St. Tammany Parish Justice Center (Courthouse) is located in Covington, Louisiana, at 701 N. Columbia Street.


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http://www.sttammanyclerk.org/main/tlocate.asp

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Legionnaire's disease fears unfounded

Jan 28, 2013
...
An employee of the district attorney's office died of the disease Dec. 28.

Legionnaires disease is a fairly common form of pneumonia, making up about 5 percent of cases acquired outside of hospitals or prisons, or about 300 cases a year in Louisiana, Ratard said. People don't get it from each other, he said, but from inhaling tiny droplets in mists from water systems, and 3 to 30 percent of such systems harbor the germ.
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The parish is having the courthouse air conditioner cooling tower tested.

Workers also were concerned that doctors had found Legionella antibodies in the blood of a woman who had been ill but had recovered. Ratard said she had had only one test ? and the only way to tell whether her exposure was recent or years ago would be a second test two weeks later, to check for higher antibody levels.
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Full text:
http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20130128/NEWS01/130128032/Legionnaire-s-disease-fears-unfounded-