Latest death from Legionnaires’ disease in Quincy happened outside Illinois

Between 8,000 and 18,000 people are hospitalized with Legionnaires’ each year, usually in summer and early fall, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Legionnaires’ is a severe form of pneumonia caused by inhaling mist infected with the bacteria Legionella.

In the ever-growing Legionnaires’ disease outbreak affecting residents at the Illinois Veterans’ Home-Quincy, Illinois health officials today put the case count at 39, up ten from yesterday.

State officials are reporting four confirmed cases in Quincy not associated with the home. This may seem like a lot, but it is a typical pattern with this disease, which tends to appear in warm weather and is most unsafe for people who already are sick or weakened.

Besides the confirmed Legionnaires’ cases at San Quentin, 73 inmates are being treated for respiratory illness at the prison’s medical unit but haven’t been diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease, the prison spokeswoman, Dana Simas, said in a news release. The disease is not contracted by drinking contaminated water, and person-to-person spread of legionellosis does not occur. Samples have been collected at San Quentin, officials say, but the source of the contamination has not yet been identified. After six days of testing, officials still do not know what caused the outbreak that has left more than 100 inmates sick and the sprawling historic prison in near-lockdown. Tests were pending Tuesday for other residents.

“We have an environmental team that is out here, and they do a collection of water samples to test for the presence of the bacteria”, said Matthew Westercamp, an EIS Officer with the CDC. The outbreak launched a massive public health investigation which resulted in identification of a new family of bacteria.

In Quincy, the death toll from the Legionnaires’ outbreak rose to eight. “Fair point”, the letter said, but noted using water to cook hot meals “is too risky at this time”.

In addition, Sky News reports today that an additional fatality linked to this outbreak has bee revealed, bringing the death count to 8.

A building at a GlaxoSmithKline drug manufacturing plant in Zebulon, N.C. was closed temporarily in August after Legionella bacteria was found in the external cooling towers there; no one was sickened.