Genesee County Confirms 1st Case Of Of Legionnaires' In 2016
LANSING (WWJ/AP) - State health officials have confirmed Genesee County's first case of Legionnaires' disease in 2016.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says Wednesday that there is no indication the person was exposed to Legionella bacteria in Flint.
The person is over age 65 and is hospitalized. No other details were released.
At least 91 Legionnaires' cases, including 12 deaths, were detected over a 17-month period in the Flint area between 2014 and 2015. Some experts have linked the outbreak to Flint's lead-tainted water crisis after the city switched to Flint River water in 2014, but health officials stress that that has never been officially confirmed.
Christine Rygiel, with the Genessee County Health Department, says that in the latest case, there is no sign the patient spent time in Flint. Health officials have been trying to identify where the person was exposed.
Rygiel said, meantime, they're pretty pleased that the county's first case came so late in the season.
"But that doesn't mean this is over," Rygiel told WWJ Newsradio 950's Sandra McNeill. "As you can tell, Michigan has had an unusually weather season and we expect to see more in the coming future."
"But, like I said, we have all of the hospital systems in our county doing their diligence and looking very sharply for any other cases."
Legionnaires' disease is a pneumonia caused by bacteria in the lungs. People get sick if they inhale mist or vapor from contaminated water systems.
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