BACTERIAL INFECTION DIAGNOSED CITY WORKER TREATED FOR LEGIONNAIRE'S DISEASE.Byline: Jennifer Hamm Staff Writer GLENDALE - A city employee has been diagnosed with Legionnaire's disease Legionnaire's disease (lē'jənârz`), infectious, sometimes fatal, disease characterized by high fever, dry cough, lung congestion, and subsequent pneumonia. Major organs, such as the heart, may be damaged as the disease progresses. , officials said Wednesday. Tests are being conducted to determine if the employee, whose name is not being released, caught the disease at work or at home, said Ritch Wells, Glendale spokesman. ``We're taking it very seriously,'' Wells said. ``That's why we've taken the number of steps that we have.'' The employee, who works for the Facility Maintenance Services Department, was diagnosed last week and is still in the hospital. He is expected to recover, Wells said. City Manager Jim Starbird issued a memo to all city staff this week listing the agencies that have been contacted, including the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Health Department and California Occupational Safety & Health Administration. An industrial hygienist is conducting tests at city buildings and facilities where the disease may have been contracted. Tests are also being conducted at the employee's home outside of Los Angeles County. Test results are expected in the next two weeks, Wells said. ``A lot of people assume that he contracted it here and it could have been at home,'' Wells said. ``We won't know the answers to those questions for a while.'' Legionnaire's disease is a bacterial infection that is caught after inhaling mists from a water source that has a bacteria called Legionella Legionella /Le·gion·el·la/ (le?jah-nel´ah) a genus of gram-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped bacteria (family Legionellaceae), normal inhabitants of lakes, streams, and moist soil; they have often been isolated from cooling-tower water, in it. In 1999, 15 cases were reported in Los Angeles County but county health officials report the disease is probably underdiagnosed. There are between 8,000 and 18,000 cases annually nationwide. The disease causes a slight headache, fever and shaking chills, a cough that produces mucus, shortness of breath Shortness of Breath Definition Shortness of breath, or dyspnea, is a feeling of difficult or labored breathing that is out of proportion to the patient's level of physical activity. , chest pain and malaise. Legionnaire's typically causes pneumonia severe enough to require hospitalization hospitalization /hos·pi·tal·iza·tion/ (hos?pi-t'l-i-za´shun) 1. the placing of a patient in a hospital for treatment. 2. the term of confinement in a hospital. and in about 15 percent of the cases can cause fatal respiratory failure Respiratory Failure Definition Respiratory failure is nearly any condition that affects breathing function or the lungs themselves and can result in failure of the lungs to function properly. . County health officials are confirming the diagnosis, said David Dassey, deputy medical director of the county's Acute Communicable Disease communicable disease n. A disease that is transmitted through direct contact with an infected individual or indirectly through a vector. Also called contagious disease. Control Department. ``At this point, we have no other cases from that region,'' Dassey said. |
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