Source: http://www.wgem.com, November 23, 2015
By: Kendra Whittle
A portion of Hannibal’s Best Western on the River hotel remains closed after state officials report tests were positive for Legionella bacteria in four of the 79 rooms at the hotel at 401 N. 3rd Street.
According to Ryan Hobart,  communications director with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, a Centers for Disease Control team took 40 samples from the hotel Nov. 10. On Nov. 20, the CDC notified the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services that samples from four rooms tested positive for Legionella bacteria. On Friday night, staff from the local public health agency and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services met with the hotel to share this information and request the hotel agree to close the facility effective immediately until remediation happens and further testing is satisfactory.
Maintenance Manager Matt Davis said since hotel renovations were already underway, they voluntarily closed the location and Best Western helped roughly 40 customers find lodging elsewhere.
Davis couldn’t say whether customers exhibited symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease, but said state health officials tested the hotel after Hannibal’s Best Western turned up on a list of various places customers stayed. He said he wasn’t sure if there were any guests staying in the specific rooms, but he says he doesn’t believe so, because those rooms were on the floor that is currently getting renovated.
He says this was a better-safe-than-sorry situation.
“Somebody could get sick from Legionella,” Davis said. “Usually, it’s younger people or older people, but anybody could get sick from something we didn’t do.  I think they would rather not make the money and close it down. We didn’t have to close it down. It was voluntarily closed by the owners.”
Now Davis says that the next step is making sure the hotel is safe for guests.
“They’re going to come in and they’re going to treat it with chlorinization and then other processes where they flush and they take care of stuff,” Davis said.
Davis said the hotel’s new location nearby at 321 N. 3rd Street is open for business.
According to the CDC, Legionnaires’ disease is a respiratory disease caused by Legionella bacteria that can sometimes infect the lungs and cause pneumonia.