Patients at Veterans Affairs hospital in Iowa were not told that the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ Disease had been found at the facility, according to a report Sunday in the Des Moines Register. Some patients are wondering why they weren’t told.
The facility plans to spend $6.5 million to replace the plumbing in the patient care areas of the 600,000-square-foot facility. The work is supposed to begin next year.
A 2012 Legionnaire’s outbreak at the Pittsburgh VA killed six patients and sickened at least 22 others. Health officials in Pennsylvania are currently trying to determine if a veteran recently diagnosed with Legionnaires’ contracted the disease at the facility.
Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria, is transmitted when contaminated water mist from showers, faucets, whirlpools, swimming pools, fountains and cooling towers in air conditioning systems is inhaled. It cannot be transmitted from person to person. The condition is so-named because it was first discovered when an outbreak of pneumonia struck an American Legion convention in 1976. A less severe infection caused by Legionella bacteria is called Pontic Fever.
Between 8,000 to 18,000 Americans are hospitalized each year with Legionnaires’ disease. Symptoms, which usually appear 2 to 14 after exposure, include cough, shortness of breath, high fever, muscle aches and headache
