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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