A PATIENT has been diagnosed with Legionnaires' Disease at

Cheltenham General Hospital.

The infection was diagnosed in the patient on Thursday

morning following a routine urine sample.

The patient was isolated and family informed.

Water pipes at the hospital have been disinfected as a

precautionary measure and bottled water brought in for patients

to drink and wash with.

Health Protection Officials are now working with hospital

and environmental health teams to work out the cause of the

infection.

It is not clear yet whether the patient contracted the

potentially-lethal disease during their stay in the hospital or

outside.

As an emergency measure, patients have been given

information on the disease.

A helpline has also been set up for family and friends

concerned about patients.

Legionnaires' is a form of pneumonia and can be contracted

by inhaling mist from baths and showers although the most

common cause of the disease is contaminated air conditioning

systems.

Steve Peak, director of operations at Gloucestershire

Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “An individual person has

been re-admitted to hospital with Legionnaires Disease.

“It's possible it could be hospital acquired or acquired

outside.

“We have flushed the water system through with chemicals as

that is the only way the patient could have caught the

disease.

“But it was a precaution as we have no evidence whatsoever

that this organism is within our system.

“It's not passed from person to person.”

Dr Sean Elyan, medical director at the trust, said: “The

Health Protection Agency and Environmental Health officials are

carrying out an investigation.

“They will look at where the patient has been during the

past 14 days.

“Water systems are being checked and temperatures monitored

to see if there was any potential for organisms to develop.

“We admit a handful of cases of Legionnaires each year as

does every hospital in the country.”

Coun Andrew Gravells (C, Abbey), chairman of

Gloucestershire's Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, said:

“This is potentially very serious, and I will be watching

developments here very closely.

“I have also asked the Hospital Trust how many outbreaks of

Legionnaires there have been in Gloucestershire hospitals over

the last three years, as none have ever been reported to our

committee.”

In January showers at Stroud's Stratford Park Leisure Centre

tested positive for the legionella bacteria.