Legionnaires Disease Outbreak at Pittsburgh VA Hospital | Food Poisoning Bulletin

Legionnaires Disease Outbreak at Pittsburgh VA Hospital | Food Poisoning Bulletin

During 2011 and most of 2012, there was a Legionnaires’ Disease (LD) outbreak at the Pittsburgh Veterans Administration hospital. Most news outlets did not report this outbreak, mainly because the VA Hospital did not report all of the cases to the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS), even though Legionnaires’ is a notifiable disease. In addition, the Pennsylvania Department of Health did not analyze hospital-acquired infections to look for outbreaks until the middle of last year. During the outbreak, 21 patients were sickened, and five people died. About 40% of those who acquire this illness die...