In 2017, the Anaheim, Calif., theme park shut down two of its cooling towers blamed for spreading the disease.
Matthew Zahn, MD, told investigators from the Orange County Health Care Agency on Dec. 4, that the misting system on the Disneyland grounds had high levels of bacteria in two of its cooling towers, but after the park cleaned them, new infections seemed to stop, leading him to believe the misting system was the source of the problem.
Dr. Zhan said Legionnaires’ bacteria can travel up to 4 miles in water, and the disease had affected people who had not even visited the park.
Disneyland disputes that its cooling system is to blame, and company lawyers said the outbreak source “has never been scientifically determined.”
Disneyland was fined $33,000 for not maintaining its cooling system.
There have been 22 cases of Legionnaires’ linked to the 2017 outbreak, one of them fatal.
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