Officials confirm three cases of legionnaires’ disease at Dartmouth seniors centre
Posted Sep 4, 2015 04:20:40 PM.
Last Updated Sep 4, 2015 04:23:17 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HALIFAX – Public Health officials say three cases of legionnaires’ disease have been confirmed at an apartment building in Dartmouth where four possible cases were suspected.
Medical Health Officer Gaynor Watson-Creed says the cases were found in residents of the Alderney Manor apartment building and measures will be taken to treat the water in the complex as a measure to prevent further cases.
She says tests are still being carried out to determine if the building is the source of the illness, but the treatment of the building’s water will continue as a precaution.
Watson-Creed says health officials will continue to look at fresh cases of pneumonia in Dartmouth with suspicion as it’s possible more people with the illness will be identified.
People can contract the illness after breathing in small droplets of water or mists contaminated with bacteria and can suffer fever, chills, dry cough, muscle aches, headache and diarrhea.
The health officer said a consultant is being brought in by the building manner to run the water through a heating process that kills the clusters, if they are present in the water system.
