| CLEVELAND
(UPI) -- Water samples analyzed by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention found 18 hot spots where Legionella
bacteria was growing in a Ford Motor Co. iron casting plant
closed for five days because of an outbreak of Legionnaires'
disease.
At
least four workers contracted Legionnaires' disease and
two men died of the infection that resembles pneumonia.
The plant reopened March 20 after crews disinfected the
facility.
Pneumophila
serogroup 1, a group of Legionella, was found in two areas
of the plant in 18 of 153 samples checked in a laboratory.
Further tests will determine whether they are the same group
or subgroup that caused the outbreak.
Legionnaires'
is contracted by breathing mist from contaminated water
sources.
The
bacteria was detected in standing water under a cauldron
used to melt iron and in a water tank used to cool a furnace.
However,
the Cleveland Plain Dealer Thursday reported Cuyahoga County
Health Department officials said a heating system cooling
tower suspected of being the source of the outbreak tested
negative.
Ford
said four water samples taken at the adjoining Cleveland
Engine Plant No. 2 were negative despite early reports the
samples had tested positive. Ford disinfected the No. 2
plant Friday and Saturday and said no cases of Legionnaires'
disease had been reported at that facility.
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