DATE: Thursday, March 13, 1997              TAG: 9703130367

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   74 lines

SHIPBOARD ILLNESSES RAISE CONCERN AMONG RELATIVES FAMILIES NOTIFIED OVER WEEKEND ARE NOT PANICKING ABOUT REPORTED RESPIRATORY AILMENTS.

Family members are concerned, but not panicked, over news that some crew members aboard the cruiser South Carolina have become ill with pneumonia-like illnesses that have led to one death, attributed to Legionnaires' disease.

That's the assessment from one of the ship's ombudsmen, Pam O'Neal.

She said Wednesday that most families were told over the weekend about the outbreak of respiratory illness that has hospitalized six of the ship's 400-member crew in the past several months.

``But their reaction has been a positive one,'' said O'Neal, one of four family volunteers who work as liaisons between the crew and its captain.

``They're glad we are taking pro-active measures and sharing information with them,'' she said. ``We have not noticed any panic. Concern, yes; but not panic yet.''

The South Carolina, which left Norfolk Tuesday, is scheduled to return Friday afternoon.

Medical officials, meanwhile, said they hope to receive results today from tests of water samples taken from the ship's supply system to determine if there is any link to Legionella. The samples are being tested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta in an attempt to find the source of bacteria that may be causing the illness.

The conditions of three sailors who remain hospitalized, including a 29-year-old chief petty officer who has been in critical condition with ``acute pneumonia,'' have improved.

Officials said that while he continues to suffer from adult respiratory distress syndrome, caused by overwhelming bacteria or viral infection, he showed ``marginal improvement'' on Wednesday.

Capt. Adam M. Robinson, the staff force medical officer for the Atlantic Fleet Surface Force, said Wednesday that all of the patients are showing progress, with two of the original six having recovered from their upper respiratory illnesses.

Except for the one fatality on Jan. 7, none has tested positive for Legionella, he said. Generally, the cases involve upper respiratory infection with bronchitis, viral pneumonia and the one case of Legionella pneumonia, he said.

``The Navy is taking this very seriously,'' Robinson said. ``We are looking into all possibilities.''

He noted that this is the flu season, and respiratory illnesses are prevalent, particularly in the closed environment aboard ships.

But he acknowledged the recent cluster of cases is unusual.

``I haven't seen anything like this in terms of so many illnesses hitting one ship in which there was a death,'' he said. ``However, I have seen very severe upper respiratory illnesses in confined spaces and aboard ships.''

Robinson said he is confident the Navy has done everything possible to find the cause of the sickness, including pouring unusually high concentrations of chlorine into the ship's water supply and cleaning its ventilation system. ``On the epidemic side, we need to track this information and look at possible sources of bacteria, if in fact we can isolate the bacteria,'' he said.

It is possible that a bacteria element is not present.

``We think it probably is a typical viral upper respiratory infection. We are trying to make sure that we are not missing the most catastrophic and most deadly, and that is Legionella.''

Robinson said there was no added risk in allowing the ship to sail this week. ``That did not increase or decrease the risk,'' he said.

``We have done everything . . . sterilizing the water. . . . We looked very hard at the ventilation system. That also was scoured from head to toe.''

No new medical cases were reported by the ship's physician on Wednesday, he said.

In tracking the whereabouts of the one crew member who died, the Navy said that crewman apparently was sick before he left the ship to go on two weeks' leave.

His parents told Navy physicians he showed up at their home in Frostburg, Md., and was ill the entire time he was home. When he returned to his ship in late November he checked into his ship's medical department and was subsequently hospitalized. He died after six weeks.

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