United States: A fourth person has died in an outbreak of Legionella at Peregrine Senior Living at Shaker facility, making it probably one of the deadliest reported cases of the pneumonia-like illness in the Capital Region in many years.
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As per the statement made by the Albany County Interim Health Commissioner Maribeth Miller, the department had “received notification of two new positive Legionella test results, and continue to follow up pending samples. We are aware of a total of four pneumonia fatalities in connection with this outbreak,” timesunion.com reported.
County officials have not published demographic information of individuals reported to have died.
Monday’s announcement was made when the management of Peregrine was frantically working most of the weekend to calm down the 109 residents of the facility and their families regarding the availability of safe water at Cattaraugus’s Northern Boulevard.
Speaking during an official Zoom information session with residents’ families, Peregrine Shaker Executive Director Kristyn Ganim said the facility was in the process of having a continuous monochloramine system that would continually treat the water at the facility.
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Josh Poupore, a spokesperson for Peregrine, added that the system should be installed by Tuesday.
Ganim also said that the county Health Department had assessed the whereabouts of the water protocols in the facility and found them in compliance.
According to Ganim, “Unfortunately, we may never know how this got into our water in the first place,” timesunion.com reported.
However, Ganim also advised families stating that the bacteria was already in the water when it entered the facility, which the Centre for Disease Control clearly states is not how Legionella bacteria develops.
According to the CDC, it gets filled where water may pool, such as in cooling units and shower heads. The bacteria then spread through people’s respiratory tracts through mist.
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Legionella can be found in many locations, but the individuals who are shown affected are typically old people or persons with compromised immune systems, hence the frequent reports of such occurrences in nursing homes and hospitals.
According to Ganim, “What is important is that we are taking the steps to resolve this issue that we believe to have originated outside of Peregrine.”
City of Albany Water Commissioner said that the water distribution line to Peregrine also supplies water to Albany Memorial Hospital and a nursing home on Northern Boulevard; however, he said no one at these two facilities had been diagnosed with Legionella.