Video: legionnaires' disease cases up to 24 in deadlyscottish outbreak - Wifi Enabled Phone

 Video: legionnaires' disease cases up to 24 in deadlyscottish outbreak - Wifi Enabled Phone

 

Business,Business News,Business Opportunities THE number of confirmed cases of Legionnaires' disease following adeadly outbreak has risen, the Scottish Health Secretary saidtoday. Cases increased to 24 by last night while a further 27 people aresuspected to have the illness, Nicola Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament . Of the total 51, 14 are being treated in intensive care. The single death from the outbreak was named locally as Robert Air,56, from the Seafield area of Edinburgh. Ms Sturgeon said: "It remains the case that there is no identifiedlink between these cases other than an association with theaffected areas in the south west of Edinburgh." Two people who have contracted Legionnaires' have been dischargedfrom hospital. The other patients are being treated for the disease either ingeneral hospital wards or in the community. Ms Sturgeon passed on her condolences to the family of the deadman. She said the outbreak of the disease in the capital was the worstthe country has seen since the 1980s. She told MSPs at Holyrood: "In Scotland , we would normally expect to see around 30 to 40

 legionella caseseach year. Typically around half of these cases are contractedabroad, but we also see indigenous cases, and it is not unusual tosee single sporadic cases of community-acquired legionella. "Across Europe, outbreaks are not uncommon, with dozens ofoutbreaks per annum and thousands of cases. "However, outbreaks of the size we are currently seeing here inEdinburgh are rare in Scotland - the last time we had an outbreakof this scale was, I understand, in the 1980s in Glasgow ." She explained that Legionnaires' disease was an "uncommon butserious form of pneumonia, caused by bacteria that are distributedwidely in both natural and artificial water supplies". Ms Sturgeon said: "In most cases, the disease is caused by theinhalation of water containing the bacteria and common sources canbe showers, air conditioning, cooling towers, or humidifiers." Ms Sturgeon said the increase in cases was "not unexpected" andwarned the number of people affected could continue to rise for thenext week. The Health Secretary said: "Clearly the numbers of confirmed andpossible cases have continued to rise over the course of yesterday. "This is not unexpected and we expect to see further cases over thenext week. The incubation period for Legionnaires' disease can beup to two weeks although it will more normally be in the regionfive or six days. "It is therefore vital that we ensure that the public are aware ofthe symptoms, and that the NHS is primed to quickly identify, diagnose and treat cases." She said she was "satisfied" appropriate action had been taken toalert the public and prepare medical services,

 adding: "It isencouraging that a number of the existing cases are responding wellto treatment." She also said staff at NHS Lothian had acted "swiftly" to set up amulti-agency incident management team to deal with the outbreak. That was done on Sunday, three days after the first case of thedisease was confirmed. After the initial case came to light a week ago, a second wasconfirmed on Saturday, with another two on the Sunday. At that time it was judged the source of the disease was unlikelyto be an indoor one, such as a spa or swimming pool. Most outdoor outbreaks of Legionnaires' are linked to coolingtowers, and Ms Sturgeon said action was taken on the Sunday nightand Monday to treat these. Cooling towers at four sites in the area were "shock dosed" withchemicals to treat bacterial growth, Ms Sturgeon said. But she added that she had been told last night that some of thetowers may need further treatment. The Health Secretary said discussions were taking place between theCity of Edinburgh Council and the Health and Safety Executive todetermine what, if any, further treatment is consideredappropriate. She also said that over the last two days a further three towers intwo different sites had also been tested and treated. Ms Sturgeon said confirming the source of the outbreak was a"central priority" but it was "an extremely complicated process". Testing and analysis was taking place, with Ms Sturgeon tellingMSPs: "We hope that they will begin to provide more specificanswers about the source of the infection over the next few days. "It is not always possible to conclusively determine the precisesource of an outbreak." In such cases, conclusions had to be reached about the source onthe basis of the balance of probabilities. "Every effort is being made to investigate the potential source ofthis outbreak. "The cooling towers that may be the potential source of theoutbreak have been chemically treated and the relevant agenciescontinue to monitor the situation to ensure that all appropriateaction is taken to minimise the risk of further infection." A "significant number of cases" of the disease have been confirmedwhich was "clearly a concerning time for anybody who lives in theaffected area, or who has recently had reason to visit or passthrough the area". Ms Sturgeon said: "The key message within south-west Edinburgh isthat the risk to public health is low. The disease cannot spreadfrom person to person, and I am advised that for people who aregenerally fit and healthy the risk is very low. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Wifi Enabled Phone , China Wifi Enabled Phone for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Wifi Enabled Phone.