Significant outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in Melbourne grows

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Several people have been hospitalised, including some in intensive care. Authorities have not found the source of infection, but are focused on links to Melbourne's northern and western suburbs.

Transcript

00:00It's this industrial area that authorities believe could be the source of an outbreak.

00:07Very sadly, one person, a lady in her 90s, has died after contracting Legionnaire's disease.

00:13There are currently 60 confirmed cases and 10 suspected cases.

00:18Most are adults over 40.

00:2059 of the confirmed cases and 7 of the suspected cases have been hospitalised.

00:27There is a chance we will continue to see cases continue to come in over subsequent days

00:32and part of that is because we know there is an incubation period.

00:35It's believed the outbreak originated from a cooling tower

00:39and that the tower is located somewhere in North Laverton and Deremet, west of Melbourne.

00:45There are more than 100 towers in the area

00:48and authorities hope that by the end of the day they'll have disinfected and tested close to 60.

00:54I am confident that there's a high likelihood we've already visited the source.

00:58It's unusual to see an outbreak like this.

01:01Authorities believe the disease has been spread further by wind

01:05and a high concentration of Legionella in the cooling tower.

01:09The other unusual thing is that a lot of people have ended up in hospital

01:12so they seem to be quite seriously ill

01:15and that might suggest they've inhaled a larger dose of Legionella

01:19or there's something inherently more virulent about this particular strain.

01:23It's the biggest outbreak since 2000 when 125 cases were traced to the Melbourne Aquarium.

01:30Doctors are urging Melbournians to look out for symptoms including cough and fever.

01:35Many of these infectious respiratory illnesses present with very similar symptoms.

01:39There's some that skew us one way or the other but ultimately it comes down to testing.

01:44Testing that could prevent serious illness.

01:53.

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