The University of Texas Medical Branch waited nearly a week to tell city staff it found bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease in water at John Sealy hospital because the pathogens weren’t at levels potent enough to threaten public health, officials said Friday.
Preliminary samples showed only a small amount of the bacteria and overblown media coverage would cause undue hysteria, some medical branch officials warned. “There is no reason to panic,” said Karen Sexton, executive vice president and CEO of the medical branch’s health systems, during a hastily arranged news conference Friday afternoon. “We do not believe our patients are at risk.”
The bacteria occurs naturally in freshwater but typically at levels insufficient to cause illness in the general population, officials said.
Still, the revelation was another setback for the fragile hospital, still struggling to recover from Hurricane Ike, which struck Sept. 13 and badly flooded the campus and forced mass layoffs.
Officials warned reporters not to exaggerate the health risks.
“This is a tempest in a teapot,” a visibly angry Dr. Joan Richardson, medical director of the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, told reporters.
The majority of U.S. hospitals have detected the bacteria in their water supplies, Richardson said.
City officials, who learned of the issue Friday, said bacteria responsible for Legionnaires’ disease, which can cause fever, chills, muscle aches, diarrhea, vomiting and, in some cases, death, likely is isolated to the hospital’s water supply, which had been stagnant for weeks after the storm.
Still, the city would test the municipal water system as a precaution, said Brandon Wade, deputy city manager. The city would not call for residents to boil water or take any other special precautions.
The medical branch informed its staff and patients Friday and installed special filters on faucets, but patients still would be allowed to drink the water.
Legionella bacteria causes a respiratory infection primarily in people with compromised immune systems, said Dr. Glenn Mayhall, hospital epidemiologist and professor of infectious diseases. The bacteria must be aspirated into the lungs to cause illness, Mayhall said.
People contract the disease when they breathe in mist or vapor contaminated with the bacteria, health officials said. The bacteria is not spread from one person to another, officials said.
The disease takes it name from an outbreak at the Pennsylvania American Legion convention in July 1976, when 34 of more than 200 people who contracted it died.
Hospital officials detected the bacteria last week after testing water and air quality as it works to reopen the hospital, shut down for weeks by the storm.
City officials said the medical branch did nothing wrong in waiting to notify them.
“The notification was very appropriate,” Wade said.
Low levels of the bacteria can be found flowing out of faucets in houses and businesses on any given day, Wade said.
The medical branch and city use the same water supply. But outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease are more common in hospitals, which have complex water systems and because many people in hospitals have compromised immune systems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Whether medical branch officials would have gone public about the bacteria without media inquiries was unclear.
The Daily News and at least one other news organization learned early Friday of water contamination problems through an anonymous source.
Each year, between 8,000 and 18,000 people are hospitalized with Legionnaires’ disease in the United States, according to the CDC.
The disease causes death in 5 percent to 30 percent of cases, the federal agency said.
Most cases can be treated successfully with antibiotics, officials said.
Medical Branch officials have sent samples to the state health department for more thorough testing, they said.
A Pittsburgh firm specializing in testing for and removing bacterial contamination will arrive on campus Thursday, Sexton said.
“Our physicians and nurses are aware of the issue and are closely monitoring all of our patients,” Sexton said. “Although UTMB does not yet have enough data to know what the levels of bacteria are, we are confident that employees and students are not at risk.”
Late last month, the medical branch had to postpone reopening the hospital to new patients after air samples revealed unhealthy levels of mold spores in four of six operating rooms.
The hospital continues to admit expecting mothers and to deliver babies. On Friday, there were about 100 babies and mothers at the hospital, Sexton said.
As of early Friday, no one had been diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease at the medical branch.
+++
Breaking down Legionnaires' disease:
Each year, between 8,000 and 18,000 people are hospitalized with Legionnaires’ disease in the United States. Many infections are not diagnosed or reported, however, so this number may be higher.
What are the symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease?
Symptoms, which usually begin two to 14 days after being exposed to the bacteria, are like many other forms of pneumonia. Signs can include a high fever, chills and a cough. Some people may also suffer from muscle aches and headaches. Chest X-rays are needed to find the pneumonia caused by the bacteria, and other tests can be done on phlegm, as well as blood or urine to find evidence of the bacteria in the body.
A milder infection caused by the same type of Legionella bacteria is called Pontiac Fever. The symptoms of Pontiac Fever usually last for two to five days and may also include fever, headaches and muscle aches; however, there is no pneumonia. Symptoms go away on their own without treatment and without causing further problems.
How serious is it? What is the treatment?
Legionnaires’ disease can be very serious and can cause death in up to 30 percent of cases. Most cases can be treated successfully with antibiotics, and healthy people usually recover from infection.
Where do Legionella bacteria come from?
The Legionella bacteria are found naturally in the environment, usually in water. The bacteria grow best in warm water, like the kind found in hot tubs, cooling towers, hot water tanks, large plumbing systems, or parts of the air-conditioning systems of large buildings. They do not seem to grow in car or window air conditioners.
How do people get Legionnaires’ disease?
People get Legionnaires’ disease when they breathe in a mist or vapor that has been contaminated with the bacteria. One example might be from breathing in the steam from a whirlpool spa that has not been properly cleaned and disinfected.
The bacteria are not spread from one person to another person.
Outbreaks are when two or more people become ill in the same place at about the same time, such as patients in hospitals. Hospital buildings have complex water systems, and many people in hospitals already have illnesses that increase their risk for Legionella infection.
Other outbreaks have been linked to aerosol sources in the community, or with cruise ships and hotels, with the most likely sources being whirlpool spas, cooling towers and water used for drinking and bathing.
Who gets this disease?
People most at risk of getting sick from the bacteria are usually 65 or older, smokers or those who have a chronic lung disease such as emphysema.
People who have weak immune systems from diseases like cancer, diabetes, or kidney failure are also more likely to get sick from Legionella bacteria. People who take drugs to suppress the immune system, such as after a transplant operation or chemotherapy, are also at higher risk.
Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
