CASE HISTORY OF LEGIONNAIRES' DISEASE OUTBREAK: STAFFORD DISTRICT GENERAL HOSPITAL

Abstract

Legionnaires’ Disease is a comparatively new disease with the first cases identified in the United States of America in 1976, where a congress of Legionnaires met in a large hotel and subsequently a number fell ill and 29 died. Within the United Kingdom there has been a number of outbreaks (‘outbreak’ means identification of two or more people having the disease). Hospitals are no exception, being the source of eight outbreaks in the UK (between 1979 and 1984). People attending and visiting hospitals include those most vulnerable to the disease, the old and those suffering from chronic illnesses; thus any hospital‐associated outbreak is the subject of local and national concern. The Stafford outbreak in 1985 affected more people than in any previous hospital outbreak, causing the death of 22 patients. The scale and severity of the incident and its association with a new hospital was the subject of a public inquiry, the first to be held into an outbreak of Legionnaires' Disease in this country.

Citation

Denne, C.B. (1987), "CASE HISTORY OF LEGIONNAIRES' DISEASE OUTBREAK: STAFFORD DISTRICT GENERAL HOSPITAL", Property Management, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 140-145. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb006653