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GROVE CITY, Ohio (AP) – Ohio's health authorities have recently been diagnosed with potentially fatal Legionnaires' disease.
The Ohio Department of Health said in a statement that the first Mount Carmel Grove City patient was diagnosed with Legionnaires', a severe form of pneumonia, was admitted to the hospital 200-bed April 29, the day after it opened. Amy Acton's adjudication is a rare event.
The hospital has been ordered to test and clean its ice machines, clean and service its on-site cooling towers, and provide all test results and water management plan to the Health Department.
If Mount Carmel fails to follow Acton's guidelines, she will order the hospital to stop accepting patients, the statement said.
State and Franklin County health officials were conducting an environmental badessment at Mount Carmel on Saturday morning.
Mount Carmel spokeswoman Samantha Irons said in a statement late Friday that the hospital is running on additional water and is receiving "supplemental" disinfection. These Carmelites are confident that Mount Carmel can maintain full services "while we study this situation."
The Mount Carmel statement says anyone who has been hospitalized at the facility and develops a cough, muscle aches, headache or shortness of breath should contact their primary care physician.
The Centers for Disease Control and Infection website says they are infected with Legionnaires by inhaling airborne water droplets containing the Legionella bacteria. Cooling towers containing water and a fan are a potential source for Legionella, the CDC says.
While most healthy people are unaffected, those over 50, smokers and others with weakened immune systems and chronic lung disease are most at risk of being infected, the CDC says.
The Mount Carmel system has been under intense scrutiny after having a doctor who has prescribed excessive doses of painkillers to 29 patients who died at its other hospitals.
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