News
June 18, 2008
Link sought in three Legionnaires' cases
One woman dead; two in area hospital ICUs
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Three Kanawha County residents have contracted Legionnaires' disease in recent weeks, the county's health director said Tuesday.

A woman has died, and another woman and a man were in intensive care units in local hospitals, said Dr. Kerry Gateley, executive director of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department. 

Tests confirmed that the patients contracted the Legionella bacteria that cause Legionnaires' disease, Gateley said. 

Health department officials have started an investigation. They're unsure how the patients were exposed to the disease.

"What catches our notice is three cases over a two-week period," Gateley said. "We're talking to [patients'] family and friends to see if they have any exposures in common. There are a lot of questions that have to be asked."

Two of the residents live in eastern Kanawha County near Marmet and Chelyan, the other in South Charleston.

Gateley said the patients apparently didn't know one another or work together.

"With the preliminary information we've got, no [connection] has cropped up," he said. "It's going to require a more thorough examination."

Gateley said two or three Kanawha County residents contract Legionnaires' disease every year, but not usually at the same time. 

"It may be by chance, or there may be some sort of association," Gateley said. "We have to find that out."

People with Legionnaires' disease have symptoms that resemble pneumonia - high fever, chills and a cough, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Some people may also experience headaches and muscle aches.

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Posted By: twinkleberry99 (12:51am 06-18-2008)
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If I remember correctly, the desease was from the air conditioning unit. Funny, I have finally gotten over some horrible sickness myself, and swore it was Legionaire's!! I was never so sick!! Living in an apartment complex, in CrossLanes, apparantly there was a water break from the apartment above this one, reported it, and was advised to just run the furnace, it would dry it out. The duct work here is so horribly contaminated, we cannot use the air conditioning in this apartment. I have no doubt its the mold that made me so very ill. I believe some research needs to be made, between the natural mold that grows here on the darkside of the hills, and the air conditioning we use daily, that takes in the outside air, there must be a link. I still am suffering from the contamination, and coughing like a cough I have never had before. We are in the process of moving out, and I really hope the owners read this and figure out its time to completely remodel and replace the AC.

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