Tests show a veteran diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease in September at the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System did not contract the illness from the hospital network, VA spokesman Mark Ray said.
VA Pittsburgh investigated whether water at its University Drive campus in Oakland sickened the veteran, who tested positive Sept. 26 for the potentially deadly form of pneumonia. He recovered, according to the VA.
Ray said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the man’s ailment did not match strains of the waterborne Legionella bacteria known to have been at the Oakland hospital.
That strongly indicates the patient acquired the disease somewhere (else) in the community, Ray said.
He said areas of the hospital where the patient received treatment tested negative for Legionella, a common bacteria that can cause Legionnaires’ when inhaled as mist from a shower or other sprays.
Still, it remained unclear Friday where the veteran picked up the bacteria. The man, whose name was not released because of privacy laws, underwent outpatient care at the Oakland hospital a couple of weeks before he developed the disease.
The VA’s University Drive facility has a history of Legionella contamination and, with the VA campus in O’Hara, was the site of a Legionnaires’ outbreak that the VA and CDC said lasted from February 2011 to November 2012. At least 22 patients fell ill in the outbreak; six died.
An award-winning Tribune-Review investigative series found Legionella in VA Pittsburgh water sample results at least as far back as 2007. The newspaper found mismanagement in sampling and treatment procedures for the water system and a failure to conduct a routine urine test that would show whether a patient diagnosed with pneumonia was suffering from Legionnaires’.
VA Pittsburgh since strengthened its Legionella monitoring and detection. Staff requested and conducted Legionella testing at Shepherd’s Heart Veteran’s Home, Uptown, a VA-contracted homeless shelter where the veteran diagnosed in September stayed. Those tests turned up Legionella but not a strain that matched the man’s illness, said the Rev. Mike Wurschmidt, a Shepherd’s Heart founder.
Wurschmidt said the 15-bed home relied on bottled water while workers completed tests and flushed pipes with chlorine. Normal tap water use resumed Thursday, and workers will check for Legionella every three to four months, Wurschmidt said.
Our No. 1 priority was to keep everybody safe. We were able to do that, he said, noting no one else at the home came down with Legionnaires’.
Wurschmidt said the man is doing wonderful and returned to work.
Public health records show more than 1,900 known Legionnaires’ cases in Pennsylvania since 2008.
Adam Smeltz is a Trib Total Media staff writer. Reach him at 412-380-5676 or asmeltz@tribweb.com.
