Legionnaires’ jumps to a decade high in county

Wet weather could be a contributing factor.

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By Ben Sutherly, Staff Writer 11:10 PM Friday, July 15, 2011

DAYTON — Montgomery County has seen an unusually high incidence of Legionnaires’ disease so far this year, and an outbreak in February at Miami Valley Hospital isn’t solely to blame.

The county has confirmed 19 cases of Legionnaires’ disease so far this year. That’s the highest county total since the state began compiling such records in 1997, and the year is little more than half over.

Prior to this year, the highest number of cases recorded in Montgomery County was 13 in 2005.

This year’s total includes eight hospital-acquired cases and 11 community-acquired cases.

None of those 11 community-acquired cases were associated with nursing homes, and none of those 11 patients died, said Bill Wharton, spokesman for Public Health — Dayton & Montgomery County.

The first half of the year has been unusually wet across the region, noted Donald Brannen, epidemiologist with the Greene County Combined Health District.

“A lot of these cases are probably related to the wet weather we had,” Brannen said.

Some water from storms may have infiltrated residential heating and ventilation systems, and bacteria may have become airborne in those systems as the water evaporated, he said.

Public Health is hesitant to attribute the increase to wet weather, but Wharton said it may be a contributing factor. Determining the source of Legionnaires’ disease cases often is very difficult, he said.

Statewide, there have been 102 confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease through July 9, compared to 97 in the first half of last year, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

Greene County has had three cases and is investigating a probable fourth case, a total that Brannen said is on the high side.

In Warren and Miami counties, which have each logged two cases this year, the totals are not unusually high, public health officials in those counties said.

Earlier this year, tests found the hot water system in Miami Valley Hospital’s new 12-story addition harbored Legionella bacteria. That bacteria likely had a role in an outbreak at the hospital that sickened 11 patients from multiple counties, the largest outbreak in Ohio since 1994.

The hospital said tests showed superheating and hyperchlorinating the water system were effective in eliminating the bacteria, which are common in the environment.

The hospital spent $61,000 as part of its effort to eradicate the disease, a hospital spokeswoman said.

One patient with Legionnaires’ disease died. That patient’s death certificate lists pneumonia as a contributing factor in his death.

Legionnaires’ disease is a form of pneumonia, but the death certificate does not specifically list Legionnaires’ disease.

The physician who completed the death certificate declined comment, and the man’s son could not be reached for comment.

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