Infection control workers at UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh have discovered the presence of Legionella bacteria in three patient rooms' sinks, according to a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report.
Officials moved 11 patients from the affected pulmonary medicine unit and they are being monitored for Legionnaires' disease, a form of pneumonia that can be deadly. None of them have tested positive for the disease. UPMC has reported the findings to the Allegheny County Health Department and the Pennsylvania Department of Health, according to the report.
The pulmonary medicine unit was recently remodeled, and water testing was done once the unit reopened.
"When you go in and look for something really aggressively and you monitor it, and you track it, you find it. The most important thing is that when you find it, you remediate it," Tami Minnier, UPMC's chief quality officer, told the Tribune-Review. "It does not mean that anything is wrong."
The hospital is using a heat-and-flush process to get rid of the bacteria. Legionella is found naturally in the environment and flourishes in warm water. People with weakened immune systems are more susceptible to developing Legionnaires' disease.
This is not the first time UPMC Presbyterian has encountered Legionella in its water supply: In 2013, the bacteria was found in some of its ice machines after it contributed to the death of one patient and sickened two others.
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