Quincy Made Major Changes To Water Treatment Prior to Legionnaires' Outbreak
Five years ago, an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease killed 12 people and sickened dozens more at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy.
Most of the cases occurred in the summer of 2015 at the state-run retirement facility — and investigations later revealed Legionella bacteria had thrived in its poorly maintained, aging plumbing system. But that same summer, four Quincy residents with no known connection to the veterans home contracted the disease in less than a month, puzzling investigators.
These unexplained illnesses caught the attention of researchers at Virginia Tech, who spent a year collecting and analyzing public records related to the outbreak.
The records they gathered show Quincy made major changes to its water treatment processes in the months leading up to the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak. Though the changes never violated state or federal law, the amount of disinfectant in Quincy’s tap water dropped by half as a result, possibly allowing Legionella bacteria to multiply throughout the water system.
https://news.stlpublicradio.org/health-science-environment/2020-10-20/quincy-made-major-changes-to-water-treatment-prior-to-legionnaires-outbreak