Legionnaires’ Disease Linked to 16 Deaths

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TORONTO – Toronto health officials on Thursday said Legionnaires’ disease was likely the cause of 16 deaths at a Toronto nursing home and warned that more deaths were possible before the bacteria were fully contained.

Dr. David McKeown, the chief medical officer for Public Health Toronto, said there had been no new deaths since Wednesday, when six more elderly people residing at the Seven Oaks Home for the Aged succumbed to the bacteria.

“We have a lot of sick people in hospital still, so I’m not going to make any more predictions about deaths,” he said.

In all, 70 residents, 13 employees and five visitors to Seven Oaks have been affected by the elusive bacteria and at least 34 of them have been hospitalized.

Though officials had earlier ruled out Legionnaires’ based on preliminary tests, they said cultures taken from autopsies, which took several days to grow, proved positive.