Re: CULT:soil/legionnaires(long)U.S. suspects potting soil in Legionnaires' case
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- Subject: Re: CULT:soil/legionnaires(long)U.S. suspects potting soil in Legionnaires' case
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- Date: Sat, 9 Sep 2000 11:46:04 EDT
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Found it:
U.S. suspects potting soil in Legionnaires' cases
By Mike Cooper
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Federal health officials Thursday reported the first U.S.
cases of Legionnaires' disease apparently caused by handling potting soil.
The bacterial illness -- most often contracted by inhaling mist from
contaminated water sources -- occurred in three people in California, Oregon
and Washington in May and June, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) said. One person died.
U.S. health officials did not issue any warnings involving potting soil. But
Australian researchers previously linked Legionnaires disease to potting soil
and advised users to open bags carefully and wet down the soil to avoid
inhaling airborne potting mix, to wear gloves and to wash their hands after
handling potting soil.
Two of the U.S. cases involved women, aged 46 and 77, who had been potting
plants a few days before their symptoms began. Laboratory tests of samples
from their potting soil confirmed the presence of Legionella bacteria.
The third case involved a 45-year-old California man who died. His house was
cleaned before investigators could obtain a soil sample.
``These patients presented with pneumonia-type symptoms and were
hospitalized,'' said Dr. Michael Martin of the CDC's National Center for
Infectious Diseases.
``The laboratory here at CDC is still doing more work to try to specifically
identify these bacteria and see if we can get a direct link between the
bacteria that are in the soil and the bacteria that were from the patients,''
he said.
The CDC urged local and state health officials to watch for and report cases
of Legionnaires' disease associated with Legionella longbeachae, the type of
bacteria found in the potting soil cases earlier this year.
``Studies in Australia and Japan have found this association,'' Martin said.
The CDC estimates that 8,000 to 18,000 people get Legionnaires' disease every
year and 5 percent to 30 percent die. The disease is not transmitted from
person to person.
Legionnaires' disease was first recognized in 1976, when an outbreak of
pneumonia occurred among people attending an American Legion convention in
Philadelphia. Symptoms of the disease include fever, chills and a cough.
People with weakened immune systems and middle-aged and older persons,
particularly those who smoke or have chronic lung disease, are most
susceptible to the bacterial infection.
REUTERS@
16:19 08-31-00
Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
