Grady awaits tests in disease probe

Grady Memorial Hospital itself is the most likely source of the Legionnaires’ disease that has sickened four patients since Jan. 1, but results from water tests inside the hospital will not be ready until Monday. All four patients are responding well to antibiotics, hospital spokeswoman Denise Simpson said Friday.

Dr. Susan Lance, a state epidemiologist, said the patients diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease appear to have no ties other than their treatment at the hospital in downtown Atlanta.

According to the Georgia Division of Public Health, the disease can be contracted by breathing in the bacteria, carried by water mists from showers, hot tubs or heating and air conditioning units.

State and federal public health officials are helping Grady Memorial Hospital track down the source of the bacteria. Preliminary results of water tests inside the hospital will arrive Monday, and final results should be available Thursday, hospital spokeswoman Denise Simpson said.

As a precaution, the hospital is superheating its hot water to 284 degrees to kill any bacteria, Simpson said. The next step would be super-chlorination.

Grady also moved patients out of sections of the 11th and 12th floors where the infected patients had stayed prior to returning to the hospital with pneumonia-like symptoms identified as legionellosis, Simpson said.

As of Friday morning, three of the patients remained at Grady. Simpson said they were responding well to antibiotics. The fourth was well enough to go home. Their names were not released.

On average, Grady treats two or three patients a year for Legionnaires’ disease contracted elsewhere, Simpson said.