Health body chief calls for legionella inquiry

Senior News Reporter

Tuesday 19 June 2012

A HEALTH inspectors' leader last night called for a public inquiry into the Legionnaires' disease outbreak that has killed two and now hit 91 people.

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BRIAN DONNELLY

Cases rose again yesterday in Scotland's worst outbreak in decades as Tom Bell, chief executive of the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland, made the call amid mounting political pressure for a more proactive testing programme for cooling towers – the suspected source.

Twelve victims have now engaged lawyers over negligence claims.Mr Bell said: "There has to be an inquiry. Two people have died; other people might have long-term debilitating effects.He said it should seek to establish "what happened, who did it and could it have been prevented"."There clearly has been some kind of negligence."Gordon Erasmuson, 59, who became ill with Legionella on May 30, backed the call after claiming he got the bug purely by leaving his window open in the Edinburgh outbreak zone.The retired carpenter said: "I live about 300 metres from one of these plants [suspected as the source] and I usually keep my window open during the summer."You can actually smell the odours coming from this place."This should never have happened. It should have been tested either internally or by inspectors."Meanwhile, it was reported two sites served with improvement notices, North British Distillery and MacFarlan Smith, had not been checked by external inspectors for two years.Three sites have been served with such notices – the third is the National Museum of Scotland complex in Chambers Street – but health chiefs said the actions did not indicate the sites were the source.There are now 44 victims and the total number of suspected cases remains unchanged at 47.

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Health body chief calls for legionella inquiry

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