some unpleasant news from a Texas. hosp.

[ensho]

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index.php?smp=&lang=eng


Patients at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston aren't believed to be at great risk after the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease was discovered in the water system, officials said Friday. "We think the risk is phenomenally low. But we are being proactive in patient safety," said Pamela Falk, director of health care epidemiology at UTMB, which is still reopening after being heavily damaged by Hurricane Ike. "This is not going to stop us from accepting patients." UTMB is still in the middle of testing water samples to determine the level of contamination. The hospital has also hired a consulting firm to perform additional testing. Legionnaire's, a form of pneumonia, is caused by bacteria that occurs naturally in water. The bacteria probably formed in water that remained stagnant for weeks in hospital pipes after the hurricane, Falk said. "It frequently is normally found in water systems," she said. "We wouldn't have been surprised if we found it and we did." The bacteria is not believed to have spread beyond the hospital and there have been no reports of human infections. Falk said the only patients at risk for getting the disease are ones with compromised immune systems. With the hospital not fully open yet, the only patients at risk would be premature babies. Special filters have been installed to clean the water that any infants at the hospital might use, she said. "We need to be careful and doctors need to watch for pneumonia in their patients," Falk said. The only way a patient could get the disease is if he or she would inhale fine water particles into their lungs, she said. People not at risk to the disease can still wash their hands, drink the water, or bath in it. Legionnaire's can be fatal in rare cases, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control. An estimated 8,000 to 18,000 cases occur nationwide each year, and outbreaks aren't uncommon in health care settings.)
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[Liberal_in_LA]

1. Legionnaires' disease - there's a term I haven't heard in years

[Warpy]

2. They need to be cautions and cancel those patient showers

in favor of bed baths until the water is a bit safer.

Legionella is destroyed by stomach acid the same way a lot of bugs that are potentially fatal if inhaled or introduced into an open wound are. You can drink heavily contaminated water safely as long as it's not contaminated with polio virus or nasty gut bacteria or parasites.

The real danger with it is in air conditioning systems or humidifiers.

[JeffreyWilliamson]

3. From our local paper...

http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=cccf585c1bb81779

Tests last week by University of Texas Medical staff found bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease, a form of pneumonia, in the water supply at John Sealy Hospital, but at what levels, officials aren’t sure.

The news has prompted city officials to test the municipal water supply as a precaution. City officials, however, say the bacteria is likely isolated to the hospital’s water supply.

My partner has been very sick for the last 3 days. He started out with a fever and chills, and has developed increasingly worse flu-like symptoms. He has called in sick the last 2 days, but had to go to work this morning because no one could cover his shift. We thought about taking him to the doctor, but just chaulked it up to a case of the flu and figured he'd get over it.

This news in the context of his illness is worrisome. If this made it into the city's water system, could this be transmitted by inhaling steam from a shower?

[Breeze54]

4. My father died from it in Massachusetts... it has nothing to do with Texas.

It's everywhere. :(

[amdezurik]

6. where was that stated?

it just happened to occur in a hospital in Texas, in no way shape or form does that even begin to try to say it is exclusively from or in Texas.

[amdezurik]

5. no "officials" being proactive

does NOT begin after you screw up...

[emilyg]

7. They need a dictionary.

[amdezurik]

8. dear god did it not even OCCUR to them

to flush the dammed pipes before using them again?

[tammywammy]

9. They have placed special filters on all water faucets

GALVESTON — Officials at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston are placing special filters on all faucets after discovering higher than normal levels of the bacterium that causes Legionnaire's disease.

UTMB called a 2 p.m. news conference to explain the presence of the bacterium Legionella in its water supply.

Officials said no one has been contracted the disease, which must be breathed into the lungs to cause an infection, said Dr. C. Glen Mayhall, head of the UTMB department of health care epidemiology.

Mayhall said only persons with weak immune systems were vulnerable to the disease, which causes pneumonia but is easily treatable with antibiotics.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/6149377.html