Mystery around source of killer bacteria

Published 16 Oct 2008 06:00 0 Comments

MYSTERY surrounds a woman's death from Legionnaire's Disease.

Health officials probing 75-year-old Jean Leitch's death ruled out a garden centre she had visited before she became ill on June 17 last year as the source of infection.

They then found the legionella bacteria in a water tank at her Earley home - but no trace of it in taps or showerheads - and Wokingham Borough Council environmental health officer Jacqueline Chan told an inquest this week: "We are scratching our heads as to how it happened."

The bacterium lives in water and victims catch it by inhaling droplets of contaminated water from showers, taps, fountains or other sprays. Infection is more likely to take hold in people with weak immune systems, and causes flu-like symptoms but death in only 10-15% of cases.

It has an incubation period of two to 10 days and Mrs Leitch, of Fairview Avenue, was visited by her GP on June 20, three days after becoming unwell, and admitted to the Royal Berkshire Hospital the next day. But the infection developed into bronchial pneumonia and she died on June 24.

Her son Stephen Leitch, 51, described her as an active lady who enjoyed life and had good friends and said he and his father John, 77, had done lots of research to discover why she contracted the disease but had come up with a blank wall.

Mrs Leitch suffered from type two diabetes, heart disease and hypertension, making her more vulnerable to the disease.

The Reading inquest was told officials went to the Country Homes garden centre in Winnersh, which Mrs Leitch visited before becoming ill, but found nothing that could have generated the necessary water spray.

Water in the header tank at the family home tested positive for legionella pneumophila and was compared to a sample from Mrs Leitch.

Mrs Chan said: "It was difficult to say that it was an exact match but it was a close match." Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford, recording a narrative verdict, said: "Mrs Leitch died from the effects of Legionnaire's pneumonia - most likely contracted from exposure within her own home - against a background of ill health including diabetes and heart disease, which would have made her even more susceptible to the effects of legionella bacteria."

After the case her son said: "We are not going to bring my mother back - that is the end of it. My worry is for the public health at large. It was possibly, and likely to have been, the header tank, but I'm just concerned about the possible sources outside the home."

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This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 16 Oct 08

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