Legionella at Regent Treated
19/06/2008
| Regent Legionella
Corrective action taken by the Regent On Broadway General Manager has seen the presence of Legionella bacterium in the building's cooling tower addressed.
Routine monthly monitoring by the City Council’s Central Environmental Laboratories (CEL) of the cooling tower showed the level of legionella bacterium was above the accepted standards.
CEL contacted the City Council on June 12 which immediately alerted the Regent’s General Manager, Charles Forbes, requesting that the cooling tower be cleaned and chlorinated.
MidCentral Health’s Medical Officer of Public Health was also notified.
The action, which first required turning off the system, was carried out late last week and completed early this week according to stringent Australian/New Zealand health Standards for managing cooling water systems.
Subsequent testing has been carried out to ensure the bacterium no longer exists in the cooling tower and further tests will be made later this week. In the meantime the Regent’s cooling system will remain turned off.
In a joint statement today the Medical Officer of Health, Dr Jill McKenzie, City Council CEO, Paddy Clifford, and the General Manager of the Regent on Broadway, Charles Forbes, are satisfied that all preventative action has been taken to address the higher than usual number of legionella bacteria.
The three parties wish to bring the incidence of legionella to the public’s attention to reassure them that all steps have been taken to protect the public.
However they point out that, for a period of about the past three weeks, it is possible the bacteria existed in the cooling system before being discovered by the routine tests. The cooling system does not usually operate at this time of the year and the heating system operates separately.
The likelihood of people becoming ill through exposure to Legionella bacteria from mists generated by the theatre’s air conditioning system during that period is very low,” Dr McKenzie says. Legionellosis, the disease caused by the bacteria, is a notifiable disease and there have been no reports to MidCentral Health’s Public Health Unit.
“As a result we are confident there is very little historic risk given that illness occurs no longer than 10 days after exposure. However people have a right to know and, if they’re concerned about possible exposure and current symptoms, they are advised to seek medical assistance,” Dr McKenzie says.
She explains that Legionella is passed on by inhaling mists or sprays from water that contains legionella bacteria and not from drinking contaminated water. The cooling tower at the Regent is a water based cooling system which was installed when the theatre was redeveloped 10 years ago.
Legionellosis, the illness, has both a mild and a severe form. The symptoms include muscle aches, headache, tiredness, loss of appetite and coughing followed by fever, chills and occasionally diarrhoea.
Legionellosis most often affects adults with chronic medical conditions, older people, heavy smokers, people with chronic lung disease or conditions that lower immunity or who are on immune suppressing drugs (such as high doses of steroids).
There have been no previous incidents of Legionella at the Regent On Broadway and the City Council maintains a frequent and thorough testing regime as per the recommended Standards.
MidCentral Health Public Health and the City Council will continue to work together to ensure there are no ongoing risks to the health of the community.
All three parties emphasise that, as corrective action has been taken already, people can feel assured they can attend forthcoming events at the Regent On Broadway and continue their usual business.
Contact:
Dr Jill McKenzie
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
Phone 350-8464
Malcolm Hopwood
PUBLIC AFFAIRS MANAGER
Phone 351 4482
Paddy Clifford
CITY COUNCIL CEO
Phone 356-8199
Charles Forbes
REGENT ON BROADWAY MANAGER
Phone 350-2100