An eighth person has tested positive for Legionnaires' disease at Saint Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Two patients have already died from the disease.

Investigators have linked the outbreak to water contamination. Hospital officials said tests on the hospital's water system after the first diagnosis on Sept. 11 showed the presence of Legionella bacteria, which causes the disease.

Legionnaires' disease is a form of pneumonia that can spread through plumbing and air-conditioning systems. It got its name in 1976, when 29 people died after an outbreak occurred at an American Legion convention in Philadelphia.

Symptoms include high fever, cough and difficulty breathing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms usually appear two to 14 days after infection. There is no evidence that the disease can be spread by person-to-person contact.

To read more about the New Jersey outbreak, please visit:
The Middlesex County Health Department site

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation last week requiring hospitals to screen for, prevent and report some of the most hospital-acquired infections and establish a state oversight program to monitor compliance.

The bill is intended to curb hospital infections and increase oversight and reporting of problems when they do occur. The legislation requires hospitals to report Staphylococcal infections and other positive test results to the state Department of Public Health. In addition, the agency must post infection rates by hospital on its Web site beginning in 2011.

MRSA, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a bacterium that is very difficult to treat because it is resistant to many antibiotics. The number of MRSA infected patients admitted to California hospitals has jumped from 13,504 in 1999 to 54,317 in 2006, according to the state Department of Public Health, which will oversee the new program. MRSA deaths over that same period increased from 2,113 to 3,863 annually.

To read the full article, please visit:
The Merced Sun Star

A recent study published in the European Respiratory Journal received lots of attention recently when it reported that children who swam outdoors one hour per week for 10 years, were five times more likely to be asthmatic than those who have never been in a pool.

However, some have questioned the study and point to research recently reported in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health which studied 2,100 children and found no link between asthma and chlorinated pools. In fact, these researchers found, "higher rates of asthma among those not starting to swim in the 1st year of life."

To read the full ERJ article, and subsequent commentary, please visit:
The European Respiratory Journal and Medical News Today

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new test that can detect skin infections in less than an hour, including antibiotic-resistant infections such as the so-called "superbug" MRSA. The test should help doctors to quickly determine which antibiotic would be most effective in treating infections.

MRSA is becoming more prevalent in hospitals, long-term care facilities and community settings, and tests for the bacteria can take up to three days.

The Institute of Healthcare Improvement recently reported that about 800,000 surgeries are complicated by infections annually, with a $9.5 billion cost to the U.S. health care system. According to a study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, the increased length of stay following a MRSA infection is 18 days.

To read more about MRSA, please visit:
The Center for Disease Control

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