Clinic Checked in Legionnaire’s Disease Scare : Health: Local and state officials test Westminster offices after employee complains of unidentified ailment. O.C. epidemiologist says nearly completed county investigation has found no risk to anyone.

Orange County and state officials are conducting separate investigations to determine whether a county-run clinic in Westminster is harboring the bacteria that cause Legionnaire’s disease.

The unusual building examinations were prompted last Thursday when a complaint was filed with the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration involving a clinic employee who became ill and whose diagnosis remains uncertain.

Water samples from the building’s air-conditioning system were taken late last week by Cal-OSHA officials, and the medical conditions of the sick employee’s colleagues are being monitored until a definitive diagnosis can be obtained on her, said Jim Brown, OSHA’s local district manager.

However, Dr. George Gellert, the county’s epidemiologist, said Wednesday that the county’s inquiry is nearly complete and that preliminary results do not indicate a health risk to citizens who use the Beach Boulevard facility or to the 120 employees who work there.

“No scientific evidence we have suggests there is a problem in that facility,” Gellert said Wednesday. “We’re still in the process of collecting data, but none of it indicates a communicable disease outbreak.”

OSHA is seven to 10 days away from completing its inquiry, Brown said. He declined to reveal who filed the complaint that prompted the study.

Employees at the Westminster offices were notified of the ongoing OSHA and county inquiries late last week. Gellert said there has been no need to alert the public.

At the Westminster offices Wednesday, county employees said they were aware of the state and county studies but for the most part declined comment on them.

Frank Miscione, chief of adult mental health outpatient services there, said that employees have expressed concern but that there has been no panic. There has also been no sign of excessive absenteeism.

“They want something done, want it checked into, understandably,” Miscione said. “I think, at this point, people feel pretty confident that it’s being checked into. I think most people are reasonably satisfied.”

County Health Care Agency Director Tom Uram said he notified the County Board of Supervisors of the inquiry last week. Board Chairman Roger R. Stanton could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Aides to Supervisors Gaddi H. Vasquez and Harriett M. Wieder said they were unaware of the studies.

Officials with a labor union representing employees in the building said that they also were not aware of the studies but that they would not normally be notified unless a worker filed a complaint.

Authorities with the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta said about 1,300 reported cases of Legionnaire’s disease are reported each year throughout the country, with deaths resulting in about 10% to 15% of the cases. Records indicate that only one local case of the respiratory infection has been reported to Orange County health officials so far this year.

Uram said Wednesday that all employees working in the Westminster office building in the 14000 block of Beach Boulevard have been alerted to the recent inquiries made by Cal-OSHA and the county.

“We’re on top of it,” Uram said. “I think we’ve handled it very correctly, and we’re doing the appropriate follow-up. The object is not to panic the public.”

The ailing employee, who was not identified, provides mental health services for the county at the Westminster office. Gellert said a definitive diagnosis of her illness has been difficult because of the employee’s “complex” medical history. He said the employee’s physician has considered Legionnaire’s disease as the possible medical problem.

“We’re operating here on speculation upon speculation,” Gellert said. “All of the cultures we’ve taken (involving the building) have been negative. Our approach is to err on the side of caution.”

Gellert and Brown said it could be a week before diagnosis of the employee’s ailment, the building inquiries and medical histories of other employees are completed. In the meantime, Gellert said, the facility will continue to function as usual.

The disease was discovered 16 years ago when it struck an American Legion convention in Philadelphia. Dr. Jay Butler, a Centers for Disease Control medical epidemiologist, said the legionella bacteria grow in water and can be spread through the air by large air-conditioning systems, decorative fountains or other water sources.

The disease is transmitted through the environment, never from person to person, Butler said. When it settles in the lungs, the bacteria cause a pneumonia-like illness that sometimes includes muscle aches and coughing. In its most advanced stages, it can cause respiratory failure and death.

Uram said county health officials worked through last weekend on their investigation, taking water samples of their own for testing. Interviews with other employees at the offices about their medical histories have not provided any evidence of the bacteria’s presence.

Uram said work crews were called to the building last weekend to clean the air-conditioning system.

The two-story building is managed by Charles Dunn Oncor International of Irvine and is leased to the county. The offices house a range of health services programs, from adult outpatient services to youth mental health and drug abuse programs.

Gellert said county health officials would continue to track the medical histories of present and past employees “just to be really thorough.”

“We’ve done a lot of investigation on this and bounced information off several people throughout the state,” he said. “But we want to be 100% sure.”

Times correspondent Debra Cano contributed to this story.

The Cause, Common Symptoms

Legionnaire’s disease, discovered in 1976 when it struck a convention of the American Legion in Philadelphia, is a form of pneumonia caused by bacteria called legionella.

The bacteria commonly grow in water at a temperature of between 95 degrees and 115 degrees.

When tiny droplets of the water become airborne--through large air-conditioning systems or from other sources, such as mist-spraying devices in supermarkets--they can be inhaled and can settle in the lungs, causing infection.

The infection is transmitted through the environment, never from person to person.

Common symptoms are muscle aches, coughing and shortness of breath. In its most critical stages, the infection in the lungs can lead to respiratory failure and death.

In most deaths, victims were found to have been suffering from complicating illnesses. The disease is treated with the antibiotic erythromycin.

Source: Federal Centers for Disease Control