Toronto’s mystery illness is legionnaires’ disease
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Canadian health officials on Thursday identified the “mystery illness” that killed 16 people in a Toronto nursing home as legionnaires’ disease.
The disease, a type of pneumonia, is contracted by people breathing in small droplets of water contaminated with the bacteria—often from ventilation systems. It is rare in Ontario, though the bacteria are common in the environment throughout North America.
David McKeown, Toronto’s medical officer of health, said most cases can be treated with antibiotics but older people with underlying health problems are more at risk of becoming seriously ill and dying.
The 16 residents of Seven Oaks Home for the Aged who died were between the ages of 50 and 95 and had existing medical conditions.
Tissue samples from autopsies done on three residents of the home came back positive for legionnaires’ disease, officials said. Further tests are being done for confirmation.
“There is not and never was a threat to the general public,” Toronto Mayor David Miller, said at a press conference held to announce the findings.
Tests had previously ruled out SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), which killed 44 people in the Toronto area in 2003.
Officials believe the legionnaires’ disease outbreak, which was first detected on September 25, is now under control as there have been no new cases since Monday. They are treating about 80 people with antibiotics and an environmental investigation is under way at the nursing home.
The building’s ventilation system has been shut down while tests are carried out and staff and residents are being asked not to drink the tap water.
Legionnaires’ disease got its name in 1976 when a group of American Legionnaires at a Philadelphia convention suffered an outbreak of the lung infection.
The bacteria forms naturally in the environment, usually in water, and grows best in warm water such as hot water tanks, large plumbing systems or air conditioning systems.
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