Scotland Dealing with Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak
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Malcolm Fife/Photodisc(LONDON) — Scotland is in the grip of a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak centered in a specific part of Edinburgh. There are a few dozen confirmed and suspected cases and given the incubation period, more are expected before it peaks.
“No link has been identified between these patients other than a general association with the affected area in the southwest of Edinburgh,” Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said. “And what that does is underline the view that the source of this infection is an outdoor, community source and not an indoor specific source such as would be the case if it was a spa in a hotel. And that points as we have been saying very firmly, to cooling towers in the southwest of Edinburgh.”
Those suspected sites are being dealt with immediately, as if they were the confirmed source or sources of the outbreak.
“Samples have been taken from all of those towers and as we have already indicated, all of them have been subject to what we call shock treatment, which is effectively chemical treatment to deal with the risk of ongoing infection,” Sturgeon said.
Patients are said to be responding well to antibiotic treatment.
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