Hospital reassures patients after reports of deadly bacterial outbreak

Legionella bacteria has been found in wet areas at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital.

The bacteria, which causes respiratory disease, was found in a shower in a hydrotherapy pool area and in a second shower not usually used by patients, the hospital said on Wednesday.

Up to 30 families who came into contact with the areas, which have been disinfected, have been alerted.

‘There are no confirmed cases of infection, and the risk remains low,’ a hospital spokeswoman said in a statement, the Age reports.

‘The Royal Children’s Hospital has contacted all patients and families who have come into contact with the affected areas.

‘As a precautionary measure, The Royal Children’s Hospital has closed its hydrotherapy pool to allow the additional cleaning and testing to occur. The hydrotherapy pool, cooling towers, airconditioning and all other parts of the hospital are unaffected.’

The hospital added that Legionella is a common organism in the wider community and is present in many environmental water sources.

It added that there have been no reported cases of Legionnaires disease in anyone under 20 in Victoria.

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14 Comments

- - mom94125, QLD said
  - 01 Sep 2017
    10:58 pm
at least they get onto these issues fairly quickly and they deal with it well. Hospitals do have these type of things happen a lot but they manage the situation well as far as i know

- - june11, QLD said
  - 18 Aug 2017
    11:44 pm
A lot of businesses who have equipment regarding heating or even cooling have testing done regularly. Our refrigeration warehouse which accumulated moisture outdoors where I worked were tested regularly.

- - mom101628, QLD said
  - 18 Aug 2017
    9:25 pm
Seems like a routine test caught this problem in time and no-one has been affected by it at this stage. Do hope it stays that way. Always a problem in big cities with high rise buildings.

- - BellaB, QLD said
  - 17 Aug 2017
    12:11 pm
Not something you’d want to hear when you already have a s ick child.

- - mom206279, QLD said
  - 17 Aug 2017
    10:43 am
Hopefully they have dealt with it early enough to preven anyone getting sick.

- - Ellen, QLD said
  - 17 Aug 2017
    7:53 am
Hospitals are concerning enough often a source of bacteria.

- - natct, QLD said
  - 17 Aug 2017
    5:43 am
I’ve heard a few diseases are found in hospitals it’s a concern

- - mom94378, QLD said
  - 16 Aug 2017
    8:02 pm
Worrying that’s for sure. It is ironic that hospitals are so vulnerable to this sort of thing.
- mom93821 replied
  
  17 Aug 2017 , 8:28 am
  Hospitals treat a lot of illness and diseases and cleaning is a constant process.
- - mom90758, QLD said
  - 16 Aug 2017
    4:32 pm
Good that everybody was contacted. Let’s hope no one was affected!!

- - mom93821, QLD said
  - 16 Aug 2017
    3:36 pm
Super scary in a hospital!

- - cherz, QLD said
  - 16 Aug 2017
    2:34 pm
Wow that’s rather alarming for a hospital.
Do hope there are no illnesses.

- - nealsq, QLD said
  - 16 Aug 2017
    2:20 pm
that is a bit scary!

- - mom112217, QLD said
  - 16 Aug 2017
    12:37 pm
Hopefully no-one is affected by it to date.