Source: http://www.orlandosentinel.com, January 21, 2016
By: Naseem S. Miller
Florida Hospital Orlando’s water tested positive for the respiratory germ Legionella last week leading the hospital to hire a firm to flush its water system.
Hospital officials said that there are currently no confirmed cases of hospital-acquired Legionnaires’ disease. They added that the hospital’s water is safe to drink.
As a precaution, the hospital is testing certain at-risk patients for the infection and has instructed the staff to follow certain measures to prevent vulnerable patients from potential exposure to the germ.
The chain of events began late last year, when a critically-ill patient at Florida Hospital Orlando tested positive for Legionella.
The hospital notified the Florida Department of Health, which tested the hospital’s water, and confirmed on Jan. 13 that the water had tested positive for the bacteria.
The hospital in turn hired Illinois-based water management and Legionella-testing firm Phigenics to flush its water system, a process that will take several weeks.
Florida Hospital officials said on Wednesday that the strain of Legionella found in the hospital water system is different from that of the patient last year, so it’s not clear where the patient was infected.
They did not disclose the patient’s condition, citing patient privacy laws.
“We know that Legionnaire’s disease is something that we have to keep in the back of our minds for patients who have a weak immune system,” said Dr. Vincent Hsu, hospital epidemiologist at Florida Hospital. “We’ve educated our physicians on signs and symptoms of the disease and we always want to encourage our providers to be on the look out for it.”
The Legionella bacteria is found in fresh water. It also thrives in warm water, like the water in hot tubs, large plumbing systems, or air conditioning systems of large buildings. Hsu compared the bacetria’s presence in the water to the presence of other germs in the environment that could cause food-poisoning under the right conditions.
If Legionella-contaminated water is breathed in, it can infect the lungs and cause pneumonia, or what’s known as Legionnaires’ disease. The disease is not transmitted from person to person and it doesn’t sicken the majority of people who are exposed to it.
Signs of the disease can include high fever, chills, and cough. Some people also suffer from muscle aches and headaches, and some will have gastrointestinal symptoms, according to the Florida Department of Health.
The infection can be successfully treated with antibiotics, but it can pose a high risk to older adults, smokers and people who have a weakened immune system.
Each year, between 8,000 and 18,000 people in the United States need care in a hospital due to Legionnaires’ disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hsu said that Florida Hospital Orlando has had no cases of hospital-acquired Legionella infection in recent history. The hospital is in the process of implementing a comprehensive Water Management Program, which follows national best-practices.