‘Very surreal experience’: Legionnaires’ disease survivor calls for registry and maintenance laws – New Brunswick

As New Brunswick public health officials continue to investigate a Moncton Legionnaires’ disease outbreak, a college professor and a disease survivor echo calls for a provincial cooling tower registry.

Legionnaires’ disease is caused by a bacteria called Legionella which can be found in natural water bodies, such as ponds, lakes, and streams, as well as in built water systems, such as air conditioners, cooling towers, hot tubs, spas and decorative fountains.

In cooling towers, bacteria can be dispersed in the air and then carried by the wind for miles. It cannot be passed from person to person.

“When the conditions are right, bacteria can develop, then if mists are created which allow this bacteria to spread in the air, people can breathe it”, Dr Yves Léger, regional medical officer, said said Global News on Sunday.

Riverview resident Ken Martin said he contracted Legionella in 2018, a year before an outbreak occurred, and was placed on life support after being admitted to hospital in the City of Moncton.

“It was a very surreal experience and it was a very long recovery,” he says.

“To this day, I have no idea where I got Legionella from.”

The province declared the epidemic on Friday, after that six cases were reported in two weeks.

“My sympathy goes out to these people and their loved ones,” Martin said.

2:04NB health officials investigate Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Moncton

Cooling tower registration applications, maintenance laws

There have been calls for a cooling tower registry after the 2019 outbreak, both suggested by Dr Léger and Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold.

A spokesperson for the City of Moncton says they are now taking this information on new construction, but says a registry should be a provincial responsibility.

“Our position remains that in order to have a cohesive and coordinated approach, the province should have a record of these cooling towers so that they can track when they are cleaned up, where they are in the event of an outbreak elsewhere,” says Austin Henderson. , director of strategic communications for the city.

But with the second outbreak reported in the same region in the past three years, Sébastien Faucher, associate professor in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences at McGill University is on alert. He has been studying Legionella since 2007.

Cooling towers are a “very complex ecosystem,” he says.

“If we don’t do anything about it, then you’ll have more and more of these big epidemics,” he says.

He says the testing and maintenance requirements would help reduce the chances of the spread of Legionella.

Legislation requiring testing and maintenance of systems is something Martin, the survivor, also supports.

“Whatever laws they pass, they must have teeth,” he says. “If they don’t have teeth, they’re useless.”

2:08Moncton woman talks about being placed in artificial coma following Legionnaires’ outbreak

Consult a doctor in case of symptoms

“In this region, we usually see a few cases occurring in late summer, early fall, which is not unusual,” Dr Léger said on Sunday. “But seeing so many cases in such a short period of time is definitely unusual. “

He said his department was trying to find common exposures among the six patients and had sent in samples for testing to determine if the bacteria were of the same type. This will indicate if there is a single source for these infections.

Symptoms are similar to pneumonia and may include fever, shortness of breath, new or worsening cough, headache, and muscle pain.

The elderly, the immunocompromised, smokers and people with diabetes are at higher risk of serious disease.

Leger admitted that the symptoms resemble those of COVID-19, so he stressed that anyone who notices these symptoms should see a doctor to find out the reason. He said his department was also sending a note to healthcare providers reminding them to factor Legionnaires’ disease into their diagnoses.

–With files from Rebecca Lau