UPDATE: Another Case Of Legionella Confirmed In Cáceres, Extremadura

UPDATE: Saturday, September 2 at 7:20 pm

ANOTHER case of Legionella infection was confirmed in Cáceres by the Extremadura Health Service (SES) on Thursday, August 31.

As confirmed by the Government of Extremadura to Europa Press, the patient was a 74-year-old man. He was subsequently admitted to the San Pedro de Alcántara Hospital in Cáceres.

Six other patients – one female and five males – remain under observation at the medical facility after an 85-year-old man died from the infection last Tuesday 29.

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Tuesday, August 29 at 7:54 pm

An 85-year-old man has died in the Spanish city of Cáceres from Legionella infection, with six more people reported to have been affected.

As confirmed by the Extremadura Health Service (SES) this Tuesday, August 29, four patients are under currently observation in the San Pedro de Alcántara Hospital.

They include an 85-year-old woman, and three men, aged 76, 71, and 55, respectively. Two men – both aged 65 – have been admitted to the medical facility’s intensive care unit (ICU).

Legionella has a low risk of contagion

Rafael Mateos, the city’s major, explained: ‘We are already working, not only on fountains that serve as a drinking water supply but also on the ornamental fountains in the city’.

He pointed out that legionella has a low risk of contagion. ‘It is very unlikely for anybody to get infected by drinking water since it is transmitted through the air according to the SES‘, he added. Legionella is a bacteria that can cause Legionnaires’ disease, a pneumonia-type illness.

Mateos stressed in this regard that: ‘the problems are usually in the vapour sprays and that is where controls will have to be increased’.

He added that the epidemiological study currently being carried out will determine: ‘The origin of the possible cases to find out if there is any connection between them and if there is a specific focus’.

The authorities are working in a ‘coordinated manner’

The Junta de Extremadura reported that the Cáceres Health Directorate, together with the General Directorate of Public Health of the SES, were: ‘working in a coordinated manner, and have initiated the corresponding epidemiological investigation regarding legionella infection’.

Eight public fountains were turned off in Cáceres last week following the discovery of this bacterium. It was found as a result of preventive controls carried out by the concessionary company for the water service, Canal de Isabel II.

‘Some of the sources that tested positive last week have already been disinfected and treatments have been carried out’, confirmed the mayor.

Sanitary controls continue in the city’s fountains

These sanitary controls in the public fountains of the city have continued. The authorities are also monitoring the ornamental fountains in the sprinkler systems of the city’s parks and gardens.

Five people died in the city last summer due to an outbreak that was detected in various sources including the fountain located in Rodeo Park, which this year, as a preventive measure, has not been turned on, as reported by heraldo.es.