Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
CHP announces investigation progress on Legionnaires’ disease case
The female patient concerned had underlying illness and was immunosuppressed. She was admitted to a private room at St Paul’s Hospital on November 19 for treatment of her underlying illness and was discharged on November 26. She was readmitted to the same hospital on November 28 for the same underlying illness. After re-admission, she developed a fever and her chest X-ray showed symptoms of pneumonia. Her respiratory specimen collected on December 2 tested positive for Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1. The patient’s condition subsequently deteriorated and she succumbed on December 6 due to her underlying illness.
As the patient had stayed in the community and hospitalised at St Paul’s Hospital during the incubation period, the CHP conducted environmental investigations at her residence and the hospital to investigate the source of infection. On December 5, the CHP and the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department collected water and environmental samples at the hospital. A total of 24 water samples were collected from wards of the floor where the patient was admitted between November 19 to 26. Upon laboratory testing by the Public Health Laboratory Services Branch of the CHP, 16 samples tested positive for Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 at levels ranging from 0.9 to 7.3 colony-forming units per millilitre (cfu/ml), exceeding the action level for water supply systems in high-risk areas of hospitals (i.e. 0.1 cfu/ml or above). All 12 environmental samples tested negative.Issued at HKT 22:56
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