Officials investigate three potential sources of Legionnaire’s disease

Public Health Gibraltar and the Environmental Agency are investigating three potential sources of Legionnaire’s disease following a recent outbreak, the Gibraltar Government said on Wednesday.

Four people have contracted the disease since September and earlier this week the government announced that one patient had passed away.

The last time Legionnaire’s disease was detected in Gibraltar prior to this outbreak was 10 years ago.

The Director of Public Health, Dr Helen Carter, is leading the investigation into the outbreak and said three hypotheses were being assessed in trying to ascertain the source.

These have been identified following interviews with the cases, their families and friends, reviewing in detail where they visited and what they did during their incubation periods.

The first potential source is concurrent simultaneous infections in all four cases’ homes.

This possibility is regarded as “very unlikely” but water samples have nonetheless been taken to rule this out as the source of all four infections.

The other two potential sources are a common static source that all cases have walked past or a common mobile source, such as a vehicle.

It usually takes approximately 10 days for environmental water sample results to be processed, as the bacterial cultures need to be grown in a lab.

“Legionnaire’s disease is caused by inhaling aerosols of water droplets containing the bacteria,” Dr Carter said.

“You can’t catch it from drinking water or from another person.”

“I am working closely with the Environmental Agency who have undertaken extensive inspections to try and identify a potential source.”

“In the meantime, there are actions we can all take to protect ourselves including running taps for two minutes if your home has been empty or unused for seven days or more and ensuring your car screen wash contains a proper car wash fluid and not tap water.”

“If you feel unwell and become short of breath, have a fever or cough, please call 111 for a clinical assessment.”

On Friday, the Minister for Health, Gemma Arias-Vasquez, will chair the fourth Strategic Coordinating Group meeting to review progress on identifying the source of infection of the infections.

“I am closely monitoring the progress of the investigation and I am in daily contact with the Director of Public Health regarding this,” Ms Arias-Vasquez said.

“We will review progress formally at the Strategic Coordinating Group on Friday.”