WESTERNPORT — The bacteria that causes Legionnaire’s disease is, literally, everywhere, according to Allegany County Health Department officials who met Monday with employees of Moran Manor Health Care Center to explain the illness and answer questions about a confirmed case at that facility.
Health officials aggressively responded with sampling and testing of the nursing home’s water after a resident from there was confirmed on Dec. 28 to have the disease.
Lynne Kane, who directs the infectuous disease arm of the health department, said the fact that the patient had been confined to the nursing home for a long period made it impossible for the disease to have been contracted elsewhere.
“We get three or four cases of the disease in the county annually,” Kane said. “Those people have all been mobile and I ask a series of questions trying to determine the different places they have been and where the disease may have come from.”
Kane said that the levels of Legionnaire’s bacteria at Moran Manor were such that there would be no alarm had they been found at a private residence.
Jim Swauger, of the health department’s environmental health office, initiated sampling and investigation Dec. 29 because residents there already have compromised health.
Information about the diseased resident, including his or her fate, has never been disclosed.
The Monday morning meeting at American Legion Victory Post 155 was attended by two current Moran Manor employees and one former worker.
Gary Gatewood, organizing director for United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Local 27, which is negotiating with Moran Manor for a contract for the workers, requested the meeting. Gatewood said he expected a larger turnout of employees for a similar meeting slated for the afternoon.
From Dec. 28 through Jan. 14, the health department required that tap water not be used for showering, bathing, drinking or the brushing of teeth. Those restrictions were dropped after water samples improved, but kicked in again May 25 when bacteria in a sample of water from the first-floor break room was above the acceptable level.
Gatewood said nursing home workers tell him that the restrictions have not been followed at the nursing home.
Kane, however, said managers at Moran Manor have cooperated fully with the health department and done everything that has been requested or ordered, including the hiring of a Legionnaire’s disease mitigation company.
Swauger said superheated water and flushing of the lines took place during the winter episode and that increased chlorination is part of the response this time.
Gatewood said he would like to see more oversight to make sure management is following directions properly.
Annually, 8,000 to 18,000 people are hospitalized in the U.S. with the disease, a type of pneumonia. Most cases are treated successfully with antibiotics. The disease cannot be passed from one person to another, Swauger said.
“It is impossible to eradicate the Legionnaire’s bacteria. The regulations at Moran Manor could be an on-again, off-again process into the future,” Swauger said.
Moran Manor administrators did not immediately respond to an inquiry from the Times-News on Monday afternoon.
Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.
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Legionnaire’s disease case at Moran Manor investigated
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