The source of an infection of legionnaires disease at a private clinic in Nicosia which has seen one baby hospitalised at the Makarios children’s hospital is expected to be determined by Thursday, microbiologist Michalis Mendris said on Monday.
He told the Cyprus News agency that the investigation into the origin of the disease began “immediately after the incident was identified”, with checks having been carried out on the water supply network both at the clinic where the baby was being treated when it was diagnosed, and at its house.
On this matter, he said that an increased concentration of the microbe which causes legionnaires disease was found in the clinic’s water supply network “almost simultaneously” with the baby’s diagnosis.
He said that the microbe can grow for “various reasons”, such as “seasonal stagnation of the network” or “a problem with the temperature” of the water in the supply.
Additionally, he said that the admission of new patients to the clinic has been suspended, though its other operations are ongoing “with the implementation of appropriate safety measures regarding the handling of the water supply network”.
He added that the families of the other babies who were being treated at the clinic and were removed from it last Friday after the initial baby’s diagnosis were “informed about the symptoms which may occur in the event of infection”.
So far, he said, no further cases have been reported.
It is understood that the baby who contracted the disease remains in a critical but stable condition.
The United Kingdom’s national health service describes legionnaires disease as “a lung infection you can get from inhaling droplets of water from things like air conditioning or hot tubs”, and that it is “uncommon but very serious”.
It does not typically spread from person to person, but instead only through the inhalation of water droplets contaminated with the bacteria, which ordinarily grow in man-made water systems.