ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 2, 1996 TAG: 9611040051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
Intensive testing of pneumonia patients has turned up two new cases of Legionnaires' disease in the New River Valley, bringing the total number diagnosed to 15.
"Each of those cases are people who were already hospitalized," said Dr. Jody Hershey, director of the New River Health District, emphasizing that the cases are "newly confirmed."
Meanwhile, public health investigators have begun environmental testing of potential sources of the Legionella bacterium, which causes the sometimes fatal form of pneumonia.
"This step of the investigation may involve environmental testing of places frequented by large numbers of individuals in the New River Valley," Hershey said.
Public health investigators from the Atlanta-based federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been in the area for a week, helping state and local health officials try to pin down the source of the bacterium.
First came extensive testing of all the region's pneumonia patients and in-depth interviews of people diagnosed with Legionnaires' disease to see if their paths had crossed - or if they had spent time at common locations - during the 10-day incubation period prior to becoming ill.
Hershey said investigators were looking for links in anything from the patients' social activities to where they shopped.
"The investigative team now has several working hypotheses and needs to test them," Hershey said Friday in a statement. "This process will involve gathering information on the activities of and places visited by both Legionnaires' cases and others in the community."
Investigators also are interviewing local people who are part of a comparison group that will help public health officials statistically test their theories and pin down the source of infection.
"Residents of the New River Valley need to be aware that they may be called as part of this investigation in our effort to try to identify the sources of this outbreak," Hershey said.
One man has died in the state's first concentrated outbreak of Legionnaires' disease. Three people are hospitalized, one in critical condition. The 13 men and two women infected range in age from 42 to 86, with an average age of 67.
Of these patients, 11 live in Montgomery County, two live in Radford, one lives in Giles County and one lives in Floyd County.
Legionnaires' generally strikes older people and people whose immune system already is compromised by disease.
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