Four dead in Legionnaires disease outbreak

An outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease has left four people dead among 29 sickened at Illinois Veterans’ Home at Quincy, the Quincy Herald-Whig newspaper reported on Monday.

The outbreak in Quincy, which is about 240 miles southwest of Chicago, follows recent outbreaks of the respiratory illness that killed a dozen people in New York City and has sickened inmates at a California prison.

Adams County, Illinois, health officials have confirmed that the more than two dozen cases all are connected to the Quincy veterans’ home, the newspaper said. The names of the dead and sickened have not been released.

In New York, an outbreak traced to the historic Opera House Hotel killed 12 people and sickened 128 before it was declared over in August.

In August, the California corrections department was working to determine the origin of a Legionnaires’ outbreak at San Quentin State Prison that had sickened at least five inmates and left dozens more under observation.

Legionnaires’ is a severe form of pneumonia caused by inhaling mist infected with the bacteria Legionella. Symptoms include fever, cough, chills and muscle aches.