The Hunterdon County Health Department said it was an isolated incident, and no other cases have been diagnosed.
By: Linda Seida
LAMBERTVILLE Legionnaire’s disease, a type of pneumonia, has been diagnosed in a resident of Heritage Village, the city’s new senior housing complex, but the county Health Department confirmed Tuesday it is an isolated incident.
No other cases of Legionnaire’s disease have been found, although other residents since the center’s opening in April have been diagnosed with pneumonia.
Their test results came back negative for Legionnaire’s, according to Hunterdon County Department of Health Director John Beckley. Mr. Beckley said he did not have a figure for how many cases of pneumonia have occurred there, saying there were "several."
Because only one case of Legionnaire’s has been identified, it is extremely difficult to pinpoint the source of the bacteria, Mr. Beckley said. The bacteria are practically everywhere in the environment, including streams, ponds and tap water, he said.
The resident diagnosed with Legionnaire’s disease, Ruth Murphy, 84, is the aunt of city Councilman Steven Stegman. She is now in rehab, where she has been for almost a month, according to Mr. Stegman.
Mr. Stegman said his aunt was diagnosed about two months ago before being hospitalized for three weeks, two of them in the intensive care unit.
"It really knocked the wind out of her," he said, adding she was only able to walk with the use of a walker at one point as a result of the disease.
"She’s doing much better," Mr. Stegman said Tuesday. "She’s hoping to be released in the next few weeks."
In the meantime, the family is awaiting a medical report and evaluation determining the level of care she will need as she recovers. Mr. Stegman said the hope remains she will return to Heritage Village, but that depends on her doctors’ recommendation.
Heritage Village has 87 units, of which 26 are occupied and 10 soon will be, according to Christiana Foglio, president of Community Investment Strategies, which opened Heritage Village last spring.
Because of privacy concerns, Ms. Foglio would not discuss Ms. Murphy’s health specifically. However, she said her company has received a clean bill of health from the county and state health departments and two independent industrial engineering firms hired by Community Investment Strategies.
Ms. Foglio said her company is meeting this case head-on, and she is "absolutely confident" the Heritage Village building is safe for residents.
"I was very concerned. I wanted to be sure I wasn’t putting any of our residents in danger," Ms. Foglio said. "We followed all protocols from the county and state departments of health. I’m really confident this is an isolated health issue for that particular resident."
Ms. Foglio said the county and state health departments told her, "We’re doing everything you are supposed to do, and nothing gave them any cause for concern."
To be sure, the company brought in two independent industrial engineering firms, PMK and Schoor DePalma, to check out the mechanical systems of Heritage Village. Their studies issued the building a clean bill of health, according to Ms. Foglio.
Mr. Beckley confirmed the independent studies say the building is fine, but said he hasn’t seen the reports himself.
Among the protocols followed by Heritage Village is the practice of keeping water heating units at 130 degrees, Ms. Foglio said. That’s higher than the 122 degrees recommended by health professionals. Also, the facility does not have a cooling tower, which is one of the usual culprits in Legionnaire’s.
Legionnaire’s disease, also known as Legionellosis, is most often contracted by inhaling mist from such sources as cooling towers, whirlpool baths and showers, but it is not spread from person to person, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
The first known outbreak occurred in 1976 in Philadelphia at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel, which was hosting an American Legion convention. In that outbreak, 221 people contracted the type of pneumonia that came to be known as Legionnaire’s. Thirty-four persons died.
The source of the bacterium was contaminated water used to cool the air in the hotel’s air conditioning system.