British Legionnaires' Disease Cases Rise to 63

August 6, 2002
By Kate Kelland

LONDON (Reuters) - The number of confirmed cases of Legionnaires' disease in Britain rose to 63 on Monday as the country tackled its worst outbreak of the deadly flu-like illness in 17 years.

The hospital dealing with most of the cases said a further 24 people were displaying symptoms "strongly suggestive of Legionnaires".

An 89-year-old man, named on Monday as Richard Macaulay, died on Friday of the disease, just as news broke of the outbreak at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, in northwest England.

Legionnaires' disease, named in 1976 when an outbreak killed 29 people at an American Legion Convention in Philadelphia, is a form of pneumonia caused by bacteria living in water droplets.

Symptoms are at first flu-like, followed by fever and chills, then a dry cough.

Doctors said that of the 87 patients undergoing treatment for either confirmed or suspected Legionnaires' disease in this outbreak, 18 were in intensive care. Of those, five are giving cause for concern, the hospital said in a statement.

Health officials have said more deaths are possible, but that speculation in the media that as many as 15 or 20 people could die is too pessimistic.

"It's not over -- but it is looking promising," said John Ashton, director of public health in the region.

"You have to remember that we only knew about this on Thursday and within three days, everything that was needed to be done had been done to get on top of it," he told BBC radio.

There had been fears that the outbreak could rival that of 1985, when 68 people were infected and 23 people died in the central English town of Stafford.

Previous outbreaks have claimed the lives of up to 20 percent of those infected.

The suspected source of the outbreak -- a council-run entertainment complex in Barrow -- has been shut down.

Ian Cumming, chief executive of the Morecambe Bay Hospitals National Health Service (NHS) Trust, said the hospital was coping well with the large number of patients admitted during the outbreak by cancelling all non-urgent operations.

But he warned that the availability of intensive care beds was tight and had to be reviewed constantly.

"Neighbouring hospitals are also on standby to take any cases we need to transfer," he said in a statement.

At a news conference on Sunday, Nick Gent, a doctor working on the outbreak, said tests on a water treatment plant at the entertainment complex in Barrow -- called Forum 28 -- appeared to confirm it as the source.

"We have some early information identifying what may be this organism -- the Legionnaires' bacteria -- in the water treatment plant at Forum 28," he said.

Last year, more than 200 people contracted the disease in the Spanish city of Murcia, and a few deaths were reported.

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