Officials tested hospital water samples for the bacteria during the week ending July 26. The Legionnaires’ patients only stayed at the hospital during part of the time they could have been exposed. One visited the hospital in May and the other in mid-July.
Previous water tests at the hospital have tested positive for Legionella bacteria, and the IDPH is collecting more information to determine the bacteria’s origin.
“Rush Oak Park Hospital has a comprehensive water management program that follows the highest federal standards and CDC best practices,” hospital spokesperson Deb Song told The Chicago Sun-Times. She added that the hospital is working with IDPH on the investigation, though the “likelihood of them contracting [Legionnaires’] here is unlikely.”
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