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Leeds hospital cleared after Legionnaires health scare
A Leeds hospital at the centre of a Legionnaires scare has been given a clean bill of health.
As reported in the Yorkshire Evening Post, an outbreak of the legionella bacteria that causes the potentially-deadly disease was discovered at the new Leeds Children's Hospital last month.
It was identified in pipework at the new unit which has been created in the Clarendon Wing of Leeds General Infirmary.
Today, health bosses said urgent work to isolate and remove the bacteria had been successful and the water supply could now be given the all-clear.
They stressed that no patients had been affected by the bug.
A spokesman for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the LGI,
said: "Following routine tests which showed higher-than-normal levels of legionella bacteria in some pipework in a small area of the Clarendon Wing at Leeds General Infirmary, hyperchlorination work was carried out on the affected pipes over the weekend of July 17 and 18.
Action
"This action – in line with established guidelines – proved successful, and since then regular test results have continued to give the water supply the all-clear.
"At no point was patient care affected, and staff took all the necessary precautions to prevent a risk of infection.
"We will, of course, be continuing to monitor the situation to ensure the problem does not recur, and are carrying on with routine testing at all our hospitals on an ongoing basis."
Following an outbreak of the bacteria at LGI in 2000, up to six patients contracted Legionnaire's Disease.
The source of the infection was traced back to the hospital's cooling system, housed in the then newly-built Jubilee Wing. None of those affected died.
Legionnaire's kills one in every 10 people who contract it. Symptoms are pneumonia-like and include a cough, fever, sweats, shivers, being off food and feeling generally unwell.
Sufferers are usually hospitalised and treated with intensive antibiotics.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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