John Culatto
AUTHORITIES in Gibraltar have ‘isolated’ the potential common source of Legionnaire’s Disease that killed one person and infected three others.
The British territory’s Director of Public Health acted quickly to eliminate the risk to Gibraltar residents after laboratory results came through.
Environmental Agency specialists had been examining different potential sources of the Legionnaire’s Disease outbreak that infected four people since September.
One of those people who caught the pneumonia-causing illness died last week.
But now, water specialists assured the government they had ‘mitigated’ the source and now ‘poses no significant risk of further infection’.
To be completely sure this was the only source of the aerosolised Legionnaire’s Disease, environmental workers will carry out ‘further sampling and testing’, the government said.
There have not been any further known cases since the reported four cases.
The last patient who was getting treatment at Gibraltar’s St Bernard’s Hospital ‘is now at home and doing well’, the statement read.
Minister for Health Gemma Arias-Vasquez was quick to commend government agencies for their effective response after Friday’s coordination meeting.
“The quick action of the Director of Public Health and the Environmental Agency to isolate this potential source means that it no longer poses a danger of causing further infections,” she said.
“The samples will now undergo further specialist testing to identify whether or not it was a source of infection for one or more of the cases.”
The resolution of the bacterial puzzle has finally calmed residents’ fears of a disease that can especially affect elderly members of the community.
Legionnaire’s Disease can start off by causing shortness of breath but can quickly kill victims with its full-blown pneumonia.
READ MORE:
- Three possible sources identified of Legionnaire’s Disease outbreak that killed one in Gibraltar
- SHOCK DEATH: Victim loses fight against Legionnaire’s Disease in Gibraltar hospital after mystery outbreak
- Top Gibraltar scientists still puzzled over source of Legionnaire’s disease that infected four people
