Legionnaire's disease Minneapolis 2015: bacteria found in VA hospital; see details here!

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Legionnaire's Disease's bacteria have been found in 12 out of 40 water samples from the Minneapolis Veterans Medical Center, the CBS Local reported.

Legionnaire's Disease is among the most feared diseases these days. If not treated immediately, it can actually lead to death. The first outbreak happened in the year 1976 in Philadelphia.

Every now and then, there are reports about new Legionnaire's outbreaks popping up. The most recent outbreak was in France that happened between mid-August to early September, according to HC Info.

Now, the water samples in Minneapolis' hospital tested positive with the bacteria that cause the disease. Despite testing positive, there is still no reported case of Legionnaire's Disease among the area. Therefore, we can't count it as an outbreak yet.

According to Star Tribune, the Minneapolis Veterans Medical Center has resorted to installment of water filters on shower heads and taps after knowing that their water is infected by the said bacteria. Aside from this, they also decided to flush out the water system for the purpose of completely eliminating the bacteria.

The Minneapolis officials said that the Minneapolis Veterans Medical Center has always been keen in following their quarterly testing. So far, it is the first time that they have tested positive and the officials can't pin point what is the actual reason for this. However, they suspect that it might be because the hospital is using a brand new testing service.

Out of 12 water samples that tested positive for Legionella Disease-causing bacteria, five of them contain the Legionella pneumophila serotype 1. This is the type of bacteria responsible for causing most human illnesses.

On the other hand, the other seven water samples contain other serotype or other types of Legionella bacteria that are known to rarely or never cause human illness.

The Legionella bacteria can usually be found in warm water. Once a person inhales the warm vapor or droplets of water containing the bacteria, then the person will likely be diagnosed with Legionnaire's Disease. Fortunately, the disease can't be passed through person-to-person interaction.

The ABC News said that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that there is a steady increase in terms of the number of cases of Legionnaire's Disease ever since it was first discovered in 1976. They also emphasized that every late summer and fall, higher than the average number of disease cases are reported.