Sunbury nursing home reports Legionnaires case

The Delaware General Health District (DGHD) and the Ohio Department of Health are investigating a case of Legionnaires’ disease at a Sunbury nursing home north of Columbus, Ohio – the third Columbus-area facility dealing with Legionella bacteria since the beginning of April.

Members from the DGHD’s “environmental health division staff and a certified plumbing inspector” visited Country-View of Sunbury Nursing & Rehabilitation Center to “identify the possible sources to the bacteria, conducting environmental sampling for Legionella and recommending remediation strategies to prevent further transmission,” according to a press release from the DGHD.

Citing privacy concerns, Country-View officials released no further information on the condition of the infected resident. In addition, they said the are working with the DGHD to identify other residents at risk.

Officials at Country-View (14961 North Old 3C Road) have implemented water-use restrictions to minimize possible exposure to Legionella, which causes Legionnaires’ disease, a potentially deadly type of pneumonia. Those water-use restrictions include decreased contact with water aerosol sources, such as faucets and shower heads. (Inhaling microscopic water droplets in the form of mist or vapor causes the absorption of Legionella.)

Sunbury nursing home:
Residents more susceptible

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 25,000 cases of pneumonia due to Legionella (scientific name: Legionella pneumophila) occur in the U.S. annually. The disease’s nonspecific symptoms result in the reporting of only one-fifth of those cases (5,000).

Anyone can contract Legionnaires’ disease, but those at the highest risk of infection include:

• people 50 years old or older – making nursing home residents highly susceptible to the disease
• people with compromised immune systems
• smokers, current or former
• people with a chronic lung disease or COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, most commonly bronchitis or emphysema)
• alcoholics.

Country-View of Sunbury Nursing & Rehabilitation Center north of Columbus, Ohio, is the third Columbus-area facility dealing with Legionnaires’ disease since the beginning of April.

Sunbury nursing home:
Prison hit once again

An inmate at Franklin Medical Center (FMC) in Columbus was hospitalized last month after contracting Legionnaires’ disease, the fifth Legionnaires case reported at the corrections medical center since 2017.

The 69-year-old prisoner is in stable, non-life-threatening condition at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, where he received his Legionnaires diagnosis. The patient experienced two days of nausea and vomiting in FMC’s Zone B minimum security prison facility before being transferred to the OSU hospital.

Sunbury nursing home:
Legionnaires symptoms

Legionnaires’ disease usually develops two to 10 days after exposure to Legionella, and it frequently begins with these symptoms:

• muscle aches
• headaches
• chills
• fever, which can be 104 degrees or higher.

By Day 2 or 3, symptoms can worsen and include:

• coughing, which can bring up mucus or blood
• shortness of breath (dyspnea)
• chest pain (called pleurisy, or pleuritic chest pain)
• gastrointestinal problems: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
• confusion and other mental changes.

Although Legionnaires’ disease primarily affects the lungs, it can cause infections elsewhere in the body, including the heart.

Sunbury nursing home:
Zone B investigated

Zone B, which was previously called the Franklin Pre-Release Center, houses 364 cadre and medical high-acuity inmates. Prison officials said they were flushing and hyper-chlorinating Zone B’s showers and water system.

“We’re in there testing the water – the shower areas where the individual, we think, was exposed, and all the other dorms on that site as well to ensure that we’re getting a good test of the water,” said Kevin Runyon, state corrections medical director. “And after that, we’ll run it through a hyper-chlorination process.”

Sunbury nursing home:
Fourth Mount Carmel suit

Since a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak infected 16 people – and killed one – at Mount Carmel Grove City hospital in suburban Columbus, four lawsuits have been filed against the hospital, which opened in April. The latest was filed this week by James Lawton, who alleges he contracted the disease at the hospital in late May.

The suit names Mount Carmel Health System, Mount Carmel’s parent company Trinity Health, and others. Others filing suit include:

• June 11: Martin J. Brown, 71, of Orient in Pickaway County; he contracted the disease after heart surgery at Mount Carmel.
• June 14: Anna Hillis, 59, of Grove Grove filed a negligence lawsuit; she contracted the disease after visiting her brother-in-law at the hospital.
• June 27: The family of Deanna “Dee” Rezes filed a wrongful death lawsuit; Rezes died after being diagnosed with Legionnaires while a patient at the hospital.

Officials for the health system and its parent company, Michigan-based Trinity Health, said in late June that the hospital did not adequately disinfect its water supply. “Tests received this week from May 23 through June 1 showed significant Legionella bacteria were in our hot-water system at the time,” Mount Carmel officials said in a statement. “We believe the bacteria are linked to inadequate disinfection prior to Mount Carmel Grove City’s opening,”

The 16 people sickened range in age from 48 to 90 years old, and include a 75-year-old woman who passed away. Eleven of the 16 were hospital patients, four were visitors, and one was an employee.