Kent hospitals confirm new Legionnaires' disease cases

The Health Protection Agency said two of the cases are newly diagnosed and come after a man died and two women were left seriously ill.

One of the new cases is said to have no link to any hospital, but the other victim had been an inpatient at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.

The latest cases come after a man with no known link to the William Harvey was admitted with the disease to the Kent and Canterbury Hospital also run by East Kent Hospitals University NHS Trust.

He later died and two women, who have other underlying health conditions, were said to be seriously ill but stable.

One of the women was admitted to the hospital already suffering from the Legionella infection, and had not been a recent inpatient, but had visited the hospital for an outpatient appointment.

Dr Mathi Chandrakumar, director of the Kent Health Protection Unit, said: ‘We are working closely with our partners in the NHS to try and identify the source of these infections.’

Shower and bath fittings at the hospital have been disinfected and the water system was flushed through as a further precaution.

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