Skip to main content area
Working in partnership for the people of Herefordshire
Main Content Area
Patients suffering from pneumonia who were admitted to Herefordshire hospitals during October may be contacted in a bid to help trace the outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease in the County.
The decision to contact the patients may help in the bid to pinpoint the source of the outbreak.
The decision, which was made by a taskforce which established in a bid to combat the bug, was made when the group met this morning.
The group includes representatives from the Health Protection Agency, Hereford PCT and Herefordshire Council.
“We shall be checking records and contacting these patients as the symptoms of Legionnaire’s Disease is very similar to pneumonia,” said Dr David Kirrage, from the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health Promotion Agency.
“It may be that by carrying out further tests we will discover a few more cases of Legionnaires – we would then look closely at these people’s movements in a bid to try and trace a common source of the bacteria and pinpoint the source of the infection,” he added.
The group will now meeting daily to manage and assess the situation and an incident room has been set so all relevant information can be shared and assimilated.
“We’re continuing the approach we’ve already adopted and our message to people in Herefordshire is that it’s business as usual,” he added.
Andy Tector, Herefordshire Council’s Head of Environmental Health and Trading Standards, said: “We’ve completed a sweep searching for air conditioning units which rely on water for cooling across Hereford City and areas further away from the city centre including our industrial estates.
“We’ve taken around 20 samples which have been sent off to the laboratory for tests. We’re expecting the first results back in the next couple of days,” he added.
The current status has not changed:
· Six confirmed cases
· Two have died
· Three are in a “serious but stable condition”
· One is recovering
Legionnaire's Outbreak Update
Patients suffering from pneumonia who were admitted to Herefordshire hospitals during October may be contacted in a bid to help trace the outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease in the County.
The decision to contact the patients may help in the bid to pinpoint the source of the outbreak.
The decision, which was made by a taskforce which established in a bid to combat the bug, was made when the group met this morning.
The group includes representatives from the Health Protection Agency, Hereford PCT and Herefordshire Council.
“We shall be checking records and contacting these patients as the symptoms of Legionnaire’s Disease is very similar to pneumonia,” said Dr David Kirrage, from the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health Promotion Agency.
“It may be that by carrying out further tests we will discover a few more cases of Legionnaires – we would then look closely at these people’s movements in a bid to try and trace a common source of the bacteria and pinpoint the source of the infection,” he added.
The group will now meeting daily to manage and assess the situation and an incident room has been set so all relevant information can be shared and assimilated.
“We’re continuing the approach we’ve already adopted and our message to people in Herefordshire is that it’s business as usual,” he added.
Andy Tector, Herefordshire Council’s Head of Environmental Health and Trading Standards, said: “We’ve completed a sweep searching for air conditioning units which rely on water for cooling across Hereford City and areas further away from the city centre including our industrial estates.
“We’ve taken around 20 samples which have been sent off to the laboratory for tests. We’re expecting the first results back in the next couple of days,” he added.
The current status has not changed:
· Six confirmed cases
· Two have died
· Three are in a “serious but stable condition”
· One is recovering