Search For Legionella Bug Continues

Officers from Herefordshire Council are continuing their sweep of Hereford City Centre and surrounding areas in a bid to trace the source of the Legionella bacterium. So far there have been five confirmed cases of the illness. Two of the confirmed cases have died.

Council Officers began the task yesterday, Friday, November 7, and have already covered the centre of the city.

They are now pinpointing possible buildings further away from the centre which might have “wet” air conditioning systems.

Often these cooling systems, which rely on water to take away heat, harbour the Legionella bacterium.

Legionnaire’s disease cannot be passed from person to person, but is transmitted on the moist air produced by this type of air conditioning system.

However, it’s not just air conditioning systems in which the bug lives, other locations such as car washes are also being inspected.

“We’ve made it a priority to check the areas which have the greatest concentration of people,” said Andy Tector, Herefordshire Council’s Head of Environmental Health and Trading Standards.

“We’ve drafted in extra staff who have been extremely busy this morning scanning the city centre and we’re now expanding our search to include larger business premises and areas further out,” he added.

If Officers find wet air conditioning systems they are taking samples of water which will be analysed. It takes five days to come back with the result if it is positive – and can take longer if negative.

Local businesses with wet systems are being advised to contact Herefordshire Council’s Environmental Health team on (01432) 260224 so a sample can be obtained before speaking to their contractor who maintains the system so it can be chlorinated in a bid to kill the bug.

Dr David Kirrage, from the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health Protection Agency, said they were doing all they could to ensure that anyone showing symptoms of infection were being picked up by their GP.

“County doctors have already been alerted to signs of the disease. We’re currently trying to get more information on each case to help us identify where they may have become infected.

“We’re working closely with Herefordshire Council and there is a two-way flow of information as we try to locate the source of the infection,” he said,

He added that a temporary hotline has been set up by NHS Direct to deal with questions from anyone concerned about the illness. They should phone (01785) 231011.

“While all ages can be affected by Legionnaire’s disease, it’s more often people over the age of 50 who become ill,” he added.

Early symptoms include a ‘flu-like’ illness with muscle aches, tiredness, headache, dry cough and fever.