Water testing in the case of a newborn critically ill with legionellosis has been extended to the area where the baby’s family lives, as the Health Ministry awaits the results of further tests on the water system of the private clinic where the baby was born. The baby remains in a critical condition in the neonatal intensive care unit at Makarios Hospital.
The testing was extended because the baby went home after birth and returned to the clinic when symptoms developed, and the infection’s incubation period falls within the time between the return home and the onset of symptoms.
The response began on Friday morning, when the baby’s symptoms were identified. Health Ministry services, working with the State General Laboratory, carried out checks and took samples, starting with the clinic’s maternity ward. The first analyses showed high concentrations of Legionella in some of the ward’s taps, and the ministry temporarily suspended the operation of the entire clinic.
Earlier inspection
Michalis Mendris, a biopathologist and microbiologist with the Health Ministry’s Epidemiological Surveillance Unit, told CyBC radio that the clinic had been inspected about a month and a half before the case. Inspectors found the required procedures were being followed and took samples from the water network.
Each hospital is responsible for monitoring and controlling Legionella, and has a committee and an officer responsible for risk assessment, while ministry services carry out inspections to check that the proper procedures are followed, he explained.
Bacterial concentrations can rise sharply within a few days if the appropriate action is not taken, Mendris said. But no blame could be assigned until the investigation established where the highest concentration of the bacterium was, whether the baby had been exposed at that point, and whether there had been any failure to apply the required measures, he added.
Precautionary measures
Mendris said the authorities acted immediately as a precaution, without waiting for laboratory tests to be completed, mainly to protect the clinic’s other newborns and patients. The investigation was still under way, and the initial indication had been enough to trigger the protection procedures, he said. The authorities are trying to pinpoint the source of the bacterium so that targeted measures can be taken and the clinic’s environment made safe.
A high concentration of bacteria in a water pipe does not automatically mean there is a risk of transmission, as set limits and guidelines govern what action is needed, Mendris explained. When a positive environmental finding coincides with a case of illness that may be linked to it, however, the authorities must act as a precaution.
“We want to be 150 per cent sure that no other case will occur,” he said.
What is legionellosis
Legionellosis is a bacterial infection transmitted mainly by inhaling tiny droplets of water containing Legionella bacteria. It does not spread from person to person. It can take the form of Pontiac fever, a flu-like illness that usually clears up on its own, or Legionnaires’ disease, a form of pneumonia that can be serious, even fatal.
