Legionnaire’s Disease – 1 dead, 2 Sick In Miami

Legionnaire’s Disease has apparently killed one foreign visitor left two other people sick after staying at a downtown Miami luxury hotel, according to the Miami herald

From The Miami Herald

Guests at the Epic Hotel have been relocated to nearby hotels to prevent further contact with the water, according to the Miami-Dade County Health Department.

Doctors say there is no cause for widespread alarm because only three cases of the bacteria have surfaced in the last two months.

Little information has yet been released about the one patient killed: a foreigner who stayed at the hotel this fall.

The three cases, however, represent a tiny fraction of thousands who have come in contact with the hotel’s water.

Studies show the disease is not easily transmitted through simple person-to-person contact because water droplets must enter a person’s lungs. Instead, the culprit is typically a building ventilation system or water supply.

via Source.

AirManager – Filtration System Could Stop Spread of Germs on Planes

A revolutionary new air filter could help reduce the spread of the H1N1 virus and other illnesses among passengers on board commercial airline flights, British researchers say. The aerospace giant BAE Systems has joined forces with Quest International, a small company based in Cheadle, near Manchester, England, to develop a machine that destroys up to 99.9 percent of infectious viruses and bacteria as well as pollutants that can circulate in the confines of an aircraft, especially on long-haul flights.

The device, called AirManager, uses a controlled electric field to filter out and destroy any airborne particles or germs as they pass through an aircraft’s air conditioning system, emitting only clean, sterilized air.

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1 Dead, Dozens Sick After Eating at Oklahoma Restaurant

State health officials say one person is dead and dozens of others are sick with an illness that may be related to E. coli bacteria.

State Health Department spokeswoman Leslea Bennett-Webb says at least 10 people were taken to a Tulsa hospital after eating at a restaurant in Locust Grove.

A spokeswoman at St. Francis Hospital confirms one person has died. That person’s name hasn’t been released.

Bennett-Webb says 12 to 20 other people in Beggs, Pryor and Bixby were treated at various other hospitals. She says there have been discussions the illnesses are related to E. coli but it hasn’t been confirmed.

She says the illnesses are a very severe and bloody form of diarrhea.

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