Waterloo, Canada, 3 Cases Sept. 2002

On 10 September 2002, it was reported that two construction workers, ages 34 and 47, were in critical condition after contracting Legionnaires' disease a week prior. The men were on respirators and their lungs had shut down. One of the men was experiencing additional organ failure. As of 28 September, one was still in intensive care; the other's condition was upgraded to stable. Both had been doing renovations to the roof of a hospital in the Waterloo area. A 44-year-old female patient at the same hospital was diagnosed with the disease on 7 September. At the time she had been in the hospital four days with an unrelated ailment; she may have contracted Legionnaires' before she came to the hospital. In the week of 23 September, two more workers at the hospital construction site were diagnosed with pneumonia and hospitalized. Urinary antigen tests were negative for Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1; the results of blood and sputum tests have not yet been reported. Source: The Record