2013 Legionnaire’s Disease Outbreak At Australia’s Wesley Hospital Linked to 2011 Case

This year's current outbreak of legionnaires' disease at Australia's Wesley Hospital could be linked to a death two years ago.

Investigation by authorities from Queensland Health showed it discovered a lone 2011 legionnaires' death from the hospital's records from five years ago.

But because it was a single case, the hospital administration no longer bothered to conduct further investigation. The male patient died from the disease in October 2011.

Wesley Hospital administration believed the source of the bacteria could be the extra piping placed in the medical facility.

"They believe that they had some pipes in their new building that weren't connected to the system so that water could remain stagnant and therefore the bacteria grow," Dr Jeannette Young, Queensland chief health officer, said. "That's their initial belief."

The said extra piping had since been removed.

Ms Young said they will likewise investigate into the additional but displaced piping.

This year's presence of legionnaires' bacteria was found in taps in the room where 66-year-old male cancer patient John Pearson was confined.

Ms Young said her team is currently coordinating with the family of the patient who died in October 2011. They would study the genome of isolates from the 2011 case and then compare it with those taken from the most recent patients and water samples.

Meanwhile, all 17 public hospitals and health centres and 103 private hospitals in the state of Queensland have been ordered to carry out necessary measures to test and identify traces of legionella bacteria in their water systems.

Ms Young said it still has yet to be determined where the bacteria at the Wesley came from, and if the redundant but displaced pipes at the hospital have anything to do with it.