Legionnaires’ Disease Kills 1 in Britain; 38 Ill
Confirmed cases of deadly Legionnaires’ disease rose to 39 on Saturday in Britain’s worst outbreak in 17 years, with one man dead and dozens more cases expected, health officials said.
An 89-year-old man died Friday, the first fatality in the outbreak at Barrow in Furness in Cumbria on England’s northwestern coast. Officials said more deaths were possible.
Officials said an air-conditioning unit in an entertainment complex in Barrow was believed to be the source, and they urged people not to panic.
“If the source is where we think it is, then control measures have now been taken and it doesn’t pose a further threat to public health,” John Ashton, public health director for the region, told reporters.
But by Saturday evening, the number of confirmed cases had jumped to 39 from 19, with experts saying as many as 130 people could be infected.
Bacteriologist Hugh Pennington said Legionnaires’ is “the nastiest bug you can catch in the environment.”
The symptoms are at first flu-like, followed by fever and chills, then a dry cough.
“In past outbreaks, as many as 20% of people who’ve been infected with it” have died, he told BBC television.
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