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Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Source Of Legionnaires’ Outbreak Identified In Florence

   Alabama Department of Health officials report that the sources of the bacteria responsible for a recent outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in the Florence area have been identified.

   Last week officials reported that they were working with the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta to identify the source of the Legionnella bacteria that had resulted in at least thirteen confirmed cases, all centered around Glenwood Nursing Home on Ana Drive.

Confirmation of the disease had been pending in ten additional cases. On Friday, they reported that a woman who had contracted the disease while visiting the facility in September had died at a Tusculoosa hospital.

   Legionnaires’ is a severe form of pneumonia that cannot be contracted in person-to-person contact. The Legionnella germ thrives in water and is contracted through inhalation, usually by inhaling a mist or vapor containing the bacterium.

Health officials had worked throughout the week last week, but reported they had been unable to identify any water vapor generating sources at the nursing home.

Their investigation expanded outward and they reported that, because cooling towers have frequently been identified as a source in outbreaks, management at Regency Square Mall had voluntarily shut down their cooling towers as a precautionary measure.

   On Monday health officials reported that three cooling towers in Lauderdale County had tested positive for the Legionella germ.

The two towers at Regency Square Mall tested positive, as did one at the Southwire manufacturing facility in the Florence-Lauderdale Industrial Park. All three towers have been shut down and decontamination procedures have been implemented.

   Although environmental testing is continuing throughout the area, health officials said they do not expect to find additional sources.

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