6 June 2012
folder [featCategs]
Cooling tower suspected in Edinburgh LD outbreak
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UK: A cooling tower is thought to be the source of the legionnaires'disease outbreak in Edinburgh which has already claimed one life. Lothian Health officials have confirmed 17 cases so far with 15 more cases suspected.
Interviewed by the BBC this morning, Dr Duncan McCormick, chair of NHS Lothian's incident management team, confirmed that the evidence so far pointed towards cooling towers as being the source of outbreak.
'We have treated all cooling towers in south west Edinburgh, a total of 16,' he said. 'We are now extending the search to a few cooling towers in the West Edinburgh area,' he added.
No results from samples taken are expected before the weekend by which time the outbreak is expected to have peaked.