ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 29, 1996 TAG: 9610290086
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG>
SOURCE: MARK CLOTHIER STAFF WRITER
THE WORST threat from the rare form of pneumonia may have passed in the New River Valley, the health district director said.
A Pearisburg man with Legionnaires' disease died Sunday night at a Salem hospital, and three more cases of Legionnaires' were confirmed over the weekend, bringing the total number of New River Valley cases to 11.
Wilson Lee Dickerson, 50, had been in critical condition at Columbia Lewis-Gale Medical Center. The employee of Blacksburg's Litton Industries' Poly-Scientific Corp. had existing medical problems.
The three confirmed cases aren't new ones; their discovery came from the intensified investigation that began last week, said Dr. Jody Hershey, director of the New River Health District.
Of the 11 confirmed Legionnaires' patients, all but two have been released from area hospitals, Hershey said. One remains in critical condition at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem, and the other is in stable condition at Columbia Montgomery Regional Medical Center.
Two of the three newly confirmed patients are from Montgomery County, bringing the total of confirmed Legionnaires' cases there to eight. The other lives in Radford.
``The information from the intensified investigation of pneumonia cases in the New River Health District suggests that the bulk of the cases have already occurred and that the major part of the threat is over,'' Hershey said.
Legionnaires' is a form of pneumonia often linked to air-cooling systems. It is not contagious. The bacterium, which can be found anywhere, typically attacks people older than 60 and those with weakened immune systems.
Most of the confirmed New River Valley cases fit the profile of middle-aged to older men who smoke and have medical conditions such as diabetes, cancer, lung or kidney disease.
Officials at Carilion Radford Community and Columbia Montgomery Regional hospitals said they first noticed something unusual when the number of pneumonia cases - often high in autumn - shot up 250 percent two weeks ago.
From 0.5 percent to 5 percent of all pneumonia cases are caused by Legionella, the bacterium that causes Legionnaires'. For every 100,000 cases of Legionella infection, six require hospitalization. Once the patient is hospitalized, the fatality rate has been as high as 39 percent.
Virginia averages about 15 Legionnaires' cases each year. Last year, 28 were reported. But health officials believe the disease is vastly underreported. Including the New River cases, 29 cases of Legionnaires' have been confirmed in Virginia this year.
Local, regional, state and federal health officials have been studying Legionnaires' patients and those who have been diagnosed with pneumonia to determine how many cases can be traced to Legionella.
Investigators are interviewing confirmed and suspected Legionnaires' patients at length to try to find some connection. That could take weeks, Hershey said.
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