MSNBC
An outbreak
of legionnaires' disease which killed two people has been traced
back to a Melbourne CBD office block.
Victoria's
acting Chief Health Officer Dr John Carnie said five recent cases
where legionnaires' was contracted in late February or early March
have been traced back to the area.
Two people
- a 43-year-old man who visited the area and a 53-year-old man
who owned a cafe in the office block on the corner of Little Bourke
and William streets - died from the disease.
In both cases
legionnaires' disease was only identified after death, Dr Carnie
said.
He said the
office cooling tower was decontaminated earlier this month after
testing positive to a strain of legionnaires' during a routine
inspection on March 2.
The strain
was different to that identified in the five cases.
But it was
not unusual for more than one strain to be present, Dr Carnie
said.
"Though
its not absolutely conclusive that the men all contracted the
bacteria from the same source, it appeared all had been around
180 William street in the city in late February," he said.
Health officers
will test and decontaminate cooling towers in the surrounding
area as a precaution.
The at-risk
area was identified as being between Lonsdale street in the north
and Bourke street in the south, and from Queen street in the east
to Gresden in the west.
Dr Carnie
said the area was considered safe and the measures taken were
precautionary.
"We want
people to go about as normal and not to avoid going to the area,"
he said.
The five recent
cases involved men aged between 36 and 65.
Two of the
group were group were smokers, a known higher risk category, Dr
Carnie said.
Legionnaires'
disease is a rare form of pneumonia that can be carried in droplets
of water in the form of a fine spray drift emanating from cooling
towers.
There have
been 30 cases reported this year and three deaths.
Last year
there were 247 cases and 11 deaths and in 1999 64 cases and five
deaths.
The increasing
number of cases was due to a rise in legionnaires' tests being
carried out by doctors and was not indicative of a growing number
of outbreaks in the city, Dr Carnie said.
"Coroner's
offices are also now testing for legionnaires' disease in patients
who have believed to have died from pneumonia," he said.
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