5 Travel-Related Cases, 1 Death, Sept. 2002

Legionnaires' disease was confirmed in five British people who all stayed at the same hotel in Belgium within the ten days preceding illness. One of the cases was confirmed by culture and the other four by urinary antigen; L. pneumophila serogroup 1 was the cause of all five. The five individuals were traveling in three separate groups. A 63-year-old man, who became ill on 7 September 2002, who died, had been travelling with a group of ten people, two of whom had reported respiratory symptoms but were negative for Legionella. Three cases occurred in a man and two women who were part of a group of 46 people on a coach tour to Austria. They became ill between 21 and 24 September; all three were hospitalized. The fifth case occurred in a 65-year-old woman who was with 40 British tourists on another Austrian tour; she became ill 28 September and was hospitalized in France. All five patients had stayed only one night at the hotel in Belgium. Belgium health inspectors have investigated the hotel, collected water samples, and implemented control measures. The hotel remains open. Source: Eurosurveillance Weekly, 3 October 2002. Reported by Carol Joseph, EWGLI surveillance scheme project coordinator, Public Health Laboratory Service Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, London, England