Napa County says Legionniares’ disease bacteria found at jail building | Local News

Water samples taken from a cooling tower on the Hall of Justice at 1125 Third St. in downtown Napa contained high levels of Legionella, county spokesperson Leah Doyle-Stevens said Thursday afternoon.

The county received test results from the Hall of Justice water sample on Wednesday, but began disinfecting all parts of the building’s cooling system immediately after collecting the water sample there, the county said in a follow-up statement.

Although the Hall of Justice’s cooling system is now believe to pose little risk of harboring Legionnaires’ bacteria, the county will continue monitoring and will send further samples to an outside laboratory for testing, with results expected in one to two weeks, officials said.

Legionella bacteria also were discovered in samples from a decorative fountain and pond at Embassy Suites by Hilton Napa Valley at 1075 California Blvd. in the city of Napa – the same hotel where Legionella was earlier found in a cooling tower, according to a news release published at about 4 pm (An Embassy Suites spokesperson has said the hotel’s staff is working closely with health officials in their investigation of the outbreak.)

Both sites, where water samples were collected July 25, have been undergoing cleaning and disinfection since last week, before test results became available, county officials said.

“We are confident that these additional sites no longer pose a risk to the public,” said Dr. Karen Relucio, Napa County’s public health officer. Staff from the county health and environmental health divisions “have performed outreach to property managers of other cooling towers to perform remediation proactively, since Legionella contamination in one site can spread in the air and contaminate other sites,” she said in the statement.

Legionella bacteria are waterborne and can spread in aerosols for up to a mile from a contaminated water source, Relucio said last week.

County officials are continuing to monitor the Hall of Justice, but no jail inmates or county staff members had been moved out of or relocated within the property as of late Thursday, according to Doyle-Stevens.

Napa County also announced an illness in a Solano County resident who is believed to have contracted the illness in Napa. Since July 11, 12 Napa County residents have fallen ill with the pneumonia-like disease, Relucio previously reported. One of the patients later died, and two remain hospitalized.

County health officials confirmed the first nine Legionnaires’ cases on July 29, then disclosed the death of a patient Aug. 2, the first such fatality in the Napa Valley since at least 2015. One or two Legionnaires’-related illnesses in the county per year are typical, according to health officials.

Napa County has said its health and environmental departments are working with a joint investigative team that includes the state Department of Public Health and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Legionnaires’ disease – named for the 1976 American Legion convention in Philadelphia where an outbreak caused 29 deaths and about 180 illnesses – is a type of pneumonia that is caused by Legionella bacteria, which naturally occur in lakes and streams but also can grow in artificial warm -water springs. Aerosolized water can come from cooling towers (air-conditioning units for large buildings), hot tubs, cooling misters, decorative fountains and plumbing systems. (Home air conditioners are not considered a threat to spread the bacteria because most such units do not use water as a coolant.)

Napa County residents and workers who have flu-like symptoms, cough, fever or difficulty breathing should contact a health care provider as soon as possible. People can contract the disease by breathing in aerosolized water droplets containing the bacteria. Legionnaires’ disease is not spread from person to person and, can be treated with antibiotics when detected early.

Those at higher risk of contracting Legionnaires’ include people 50 and older, cigarette smokers, and patients with chronic lung diseases or weakened immune systems.

Strategies to prevent the growth of Legionella bacteria in the home include:

• Flushing faucets and shower heads that have not been used recently

• Cleaning, disinfecting and maintaining all devices that use water, such as humidifiers, respiratory therapy devices, shower head and faucet aerators, water heaters, and hot tubs

For more guidance, visit the CDC Preventing Waterborne Germs at Home website at https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/preventing-waterborne-germs-athome.html.