Washington County Health Center to consider how to safeguard against Legionnaires' disease
The 288-bed Washington County Health Center could have new measures to prevent Legionnaires' disease after a Pittsburgh outbreak sickened as many as 21 veterans over 22 months.
Washington County commissioners on Wednesday will discuss several options to tighten safeguards against waterborne Legionella bacteria inside the county-run nursing home in Washington, Commissioner Diana Irey Vaughan said. She said commissioners will consider whether all nursing home patients with pneumonia should be tested for Legionnaires', the sometimes-fatal form of the respiratory disease caused by Legionella.
Health center administrator Tim Kimmel said patients are tested for Legionnaires' at doctors' discretion, though it wasn't clear Monday how often they undergo tests. The health center checks its tap water monthly for the bacteria.
“It's something we're going to be paying very close attention to,” said Vaughan, who called the Pittsburgh outbreak a concern.
Five patients died in that outbreak, first announced by the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System in November. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found Legionella-tainted tap water made patients sick at the VA campuses on University Drive in Oakland and on Delafield Road in O'Hara.
County health officials reported a nonfatal Legionnaires' case over the weekend at a seniors' apartment building in Lawrenceville, where Legionella was found in the water system. The state Department of Health has recorded at least 1,910 Legionnaires' cases since 2008, more than 400 of them in Allegheny County.
In Washington County, Vaughan said she was not aware of any immediate concern with Legionella or Legionnaires' in the county health center on Old Hickory Ridge Road. The center uses chemicals to treat water in its exterior cooling towers — a suspected source of Legionnaires' disease in cities elsewhere — and relies heavily on bottled water to keep patients hydrated.
But Vaughan said county officials will consider a new treatment system as an extra precaution to keep Legionella from spreading in the tap water, an approach used in the Pittsburgh VA system and other hospitals nationwide. Some systems use charged copper and silver ions to limit the spread; others use chlorinated products.
Vaughan said it was premature to talk about how much the county might spend on Legionnaires' prevention at the health center.
Officials for the county nursing homes in Allegheny, Beaver and Butler counties could not be reached. In Westmoreland County, the Pittsburgh VA outbreak sparked a thorough review but no immediate changes in emergency procedures and Legionella testing in the county-owned Westmoreland Manor nursing home, Commissioner Tyler Courtney said.
“The county has monthly (water) testing and has never (been) given any indication that there's any bacteria buildup or any reason for concern with Legionnaires' disease,” Courtney said.
Even before the Pittsburgh outbreak, he said, the Westmoreland Manor administration began developing a broadened precautionary plan that could include water treatment such as ionization. The proposal remains in the works.
“We would pay for it especially if we had elevated bacteria levels,” Courtney said.
Adam Smeltz is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-380-5676 or asmeltz@tribweb.com.
