SEBASTIAN — No new cases of legionnaire’s disease have resulted from the bacteria found in the Sebastian River Medical Center’s water system since five cases were identified between last fall and this past April.
That’s the assertion by Cheryl Dunn, Environmental Health Manager for the Florida Department of Health, Indian River office.
Since SRMC released information on the disease outbreak in its facility last fall, some residents have questioned whether new cases do, in fact, continue to occur.
Others voiced concern on whether the air conditioning system had been thoroughly checked for the bacteria, and why the hospital released the information to the public only recently, possibly risking additional exposures.
As soon as the legionella bacteria were discovered in the water system, “aggressive remediation measures were immediately put in place,” according to Hospital CEO Kelly Enriquez.
In-patient testing, a total of five cases were identified, the fifth positive test result occurring in early April.
Aggressive monitoring of the hospital water system is ongoing.
The hospital has verified that “the air conditioning and ventilation system was included in our initial review for legionella.”
Regarding the timing of the hospital’s disclosure this spring, Enriquez said when the cases were identified last fall, “we focused our efforts on the parties directly involved in the situation: the patients and families of those who became ill, our hospital departments that were actively involved in identifying and addressing the issue, representatives from the Indian River County Health Department, and industry experts with specific experience in dealing with this kind of issue.
“Because of the additional case experienced this year and the aggressive corrective actions we undertook we felt it was important to notify the community. Because legionella is a common bacterium in the environment we wanted to share our experience with area hospitals which were appreciative of the information.”
Among the parties involved in the remediation, the hospital has enlisted the expertise of environmental engineer Tim Keane of Legionella Risk Management, Inc.
With 35 years experience, Keane is a leading expert on ways to mitigate and assess legionella risk in building and industrial water systems and has worked with the CDC and many local health departments to investigate legionnaire’s outbreaks.
Dunn recently met with the hospital’s consultant and staff to discuss ongoing monitoring, and she said she strongly recommends that it continue.
The hospital has installed equipment that will continue to monitor, based on Center for Disease Control parameters.