Atlanta’s Largest Hospital Linked to Legionnaire’s Disease Outbreak

At least four patients treated at Grady Memorial Hospital, the largest hospital serving Atlanta, have been sickened by the bacteria which causes life-threatening Legionnaire’s disease, hospital officials said.

Water samples taken from bathrooms in patient rooms on two floors of the 950-bed public hospital in downtown Atlanta tested positive for legionella bacteria. The bacteria can cause Legionnaire’s disease, an infection which can lead to development of pneumonia and can be deadly, but was not in the current cases, officials said.

So far, four patients who were treated at Grady since January 1, 2009 have come down with Legionnaire’s disease. In each case, the patient was hospitalized, discharged to home, then returned to the hospital several days later after feeling symptoms of Legionnaire’s disease, which include headache, muscle pain, chills, and fever over 104 degrees.

One of the patients remains hospitalized, according to hospital officials, who said they are confident that the outbreak has been contained and isolated to two units of the huge hospital.

Legionnaires’ disease is not spread directly from one person to another, but it may be contracted by breathing in mists or vapors from water carrying the bacteria. Contaminated water in showers, air conditioning systems, and whirlpool spas are among the common ways the bacteria gets into the air.

The disease, named for an outbreak at a 1976 convention of the American Legion, can cause death in between five and 30 percent of cases, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

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