A Legionnaires disease outbreak has been declared again in London after 25 new cases were confirmed, the Middlesex-London Health Unit says. The new infections bring this year’s total to 94. So far, 86 people have been hospitalized and four have died.
Health officials say the likely source is a cooling tower at Sofina Foods Inc. They stressed that food from the facility is safe to eat.
Angela Ma, a medical resident student with the health unit, said the outbreak had appeared to be over earlier this summer. “When we declared it over, it was because we didn’t see any cases we felt that the source had probably been cleaned.” she said.
Legionella, it’s something that can be found everywhere in the environment and often it can grow in warm environments.
Ma added “health unit believes it has identified the source and that follow-up testing is underway.”
“We will be following up to retest to ensure we don’t see Legionella again. However, I want to ensure people that the risk is low.” she said.
Legionnaires’ disease is a severe form of a lung infection called pneumonia. It’s caused by a bacterium known as legionella.
