 |
 |
By Lisa Heller
Arizona Daily Wildcat
August 22, 1996
The disease that spread through University Medical Center, killing two transplant patients and sickening five others this year, is now under control.Investigators from the federal Centers for Disease Control found the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease in pipes that run through UMC.
After seeing three cases of Legionnaires' disease between January and April, the UMC began tests to determine the source of the outbreak.
State health officials took multiple samples at three different times, but could not find anything, said Dr. Richard Mandel, chairman of UMC's infection control committee. UMC then invited the CDC to investigate the outbreak.
When the CDC found the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease Aug. 5, they immediately began a plan to eradicate the problem.
The hospital used a process called super-chlorination to flush the bacteria out of the pipes Aug. 14. UMC ran water containing a concentration of 10 parts per million of chlorine through all the pipes. The high chlorine levels killed any Legionella bacteria it came in contact with.
Super-chlorinating the pipes was the first step in a long process in keeping Legionnaires' disease out of UMC, Mandel said.
"We will be testing for bacteria every couple of weeks for the next three months, and frequently after that," Mandel said.
Legionnaires' disease was discovered in 1976 in Philadelphia when over 220 people were mysteriously sickened at a state American Legion convention. The Arizona Department of Health Services stated the disease is now known to have gone back as far as 1947.
The bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease, or Legionella pneumophila, thrive in warm water. The disease cannot be passed from person to person. Instead, it is generally inhaled into the lungs in a mist or aerosol spray that is contaminated with the bacteria. The bacteria exists naturally in surface waters, including lakes, streams and moist soil. It can also exist in pipes that contain stagnant warm water, which the pipes at UMC may have had.
Legionnaires' disease is assumed to occur throughout the world, according to ADHS. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that between 25,000 and 100,000 cases occur annually in the nation.
ADHS confirmed 12 cases of Legionella in the state this year, two of which were in Pima County.
People infected with Legionnaires' disease develop flu-like symptoms of fever, chills and muscle aches. Those who are most susceptible to infection are men over 40 years old. Also at risk are smokers and individuals whose immune systems are weakened by chronic diseases such as cancer and HIV infection. Most cases are now treatable with antibiotics, such as erythromycin.
The patients who were infected with the disease at UMC already had weakened immune systems. The two women, who died in February and March, and three other infected patients were in the center's bone marrow unit. The other two had recently undergone heart transplants.
|
|
|