One person has died from the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Orillia.
The person was in their 60s, and it is unknown if they were health-compromised prior to the infection, but the region's associate medical officer of health, Dr. Colin Lee, was unable to disclose much more information about the deceased due to privacy regulations.
There are now 35 confirmed cases, up from 27 on Oct. 13, he said.
Five people are currently hospitalized, but 29 people have been hospitalized with the disease at some time during this outbreak. Two people have been hospitalized in the hospital under ICU care.
Despite the increase in infections and the recent death, Lee says the risk to the public of becoming infected remains "very low."
Officials believe the source of the outbreak is a cooling tower - a rooftop system used in large buildings for heating and air conditioning.
“Of the 12 cooling towers (in Orillia), we’ve either had them shut down and not operating, or have had them cleaned and disinfected,” he said, noting the cooling towers are likely the source of the outbreak. “Of those that are operating right now (five of them) we’ve had very recent negative tests on the water samples.”
The direct source of the outbreak has not yet been pinpointed and may never be, said Lee.
“For most Legionella cases and outbreaks worldwide, we never end up finding the source,” Lee said. “To find the source you need to have the exact kind of fingerprinting of Legionella from a water sample and the sputum from someone who was ill.”
Testing can be complex and can take weeks, Lee says. If the source of the outbreak is found, Lee suspects we won’t know for another two weeks.
Despite his confidence in the low risk of infection, Lee says new cases may still develop as the incubation period is two to 10 days.
“It takes a few days for people to get ill enough to seek medical care,” he said. “It might be until the end of next week before we don’t see any more people ill.”
If people have symptoms of a lung infection, cough, fever, or shortness of breath, and it doesn’t seem to be resolving like a normal cold, Lee suggests seeking medical attention.
“Just in case they were infected 10 or 12 days ago,” he said. “There is an antibiotic that can treat it.”
Once on antibiotics, Lee says recovery time can take a few days for mild cases. For older people or people with a compromised immune system, it can take a number of weeks.
“The good news about Legionella is you cannot pass it from one person to the next,” he said. “You have to breathe aerosols of water that have Legionella directly into your lungs to be infected.”
The spread of Legionnaires’ disease is slowing down, Lee says, noting there have been no new cases in the last three days.
“We are seeing less and less ill people showing up,” he said. “It did come quite quickly in an explosion about a week and a half ago, but it slowed right down.”
