Patient Contracts Legionnaire's Disease at Hospital
By Lyndsay Moss, Health Correspondent, PA News
Thu 18 Mar 2004

A hospital patient has been diagnosed with Legionnaire’s disease, an NHS trust said today.

Tests confirmed the patient in Basildon Hospital, Essex, had the disease which affects water supplies and causes a rare form of pneumonia.

It follows a previous discovery of Legionella bacteria in the hospital’s water system in 2002.

Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Trust carried out a £300,000 programme to tackle the bacteria last year.

But despite their efforts the trust said the latest water testing at the hospital showed that the legionella bacteria had returned.

Alan Whittle, chief executive of the trust, said: “It is not possible to eradicate the bacteria and we did, and have continued to do, everything that was recommended to manage the risk.

“We are urgently re-examining all of our controls with experts from the Health Protection Agency and are awaiting further test results to determine what other actions we need to take.

“In addition to the continuous measures we have been taking to manage the water supply, we have carried out very high temperature pasteurisation to eliminate the current contamination.”

All patients with suspected pneumonia in the hospital are being tested specifically for legionella bacteria.

Local primary care trusts and GPs are being encouraged to check on patients recently discharged from the hospital who may be at risk.

Legionella bacteria are constantly present in the environment within the UK and there are approximately 300 cases of Legionella infection in Britain each year.

People can be infected by the bacterium by breathing in contaminated water vapour.

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