One man has died, and six others have been diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease connected to an outbreak of the waterborne bacteria in a Sydney harbourside suburb.
Health authorities and the City of Sydney are investigating the source of the outbreak in Potts Point, one of the state’s most affluent postcodes of fewer than 10,000 residents.
Legionnaires’ disease can lead to potentially fatal pneumonic lung damage in vulnerable patients.Credit: Alamy
A man in his eighties has died of the infection after becoming ill in late June. One of the affected people is recovering in the hospital, and five others have returned home.
“None of the patients are known to each other, however, they may have been exposed to a common source of infection in the area,” Eastern Sydney Local Health District (SESLHD) said in a statement on Thursday.
The cases range in age from 45 to 95 and were exposed between May 13 and July 12, an SESLHD alert advised.
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Investigators are inspecting and testing all potential contaminated water sources in the areas visited by the seven people diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease since May, the statement read.
No Legionella – the bacteria that causes the infection – have been found so far in their investigations.
“The district has requested building owners disinfect their cooling towers on two occasions since the investigation began in June,” SESLHD District Public Health Unit Director Dr Vicky Sheppeard said.
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