Company shuts doors due to disease
BY KIM NORRISFREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
June 23, 2006
The state's largest insurance company closed one of its downtown Detroit offices and gave 350 workers two paid days off after inspectors discovered the bacterium that causes Legionnaire's disease in the building's water supply.
One worker for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan was diagnosed with the pneumonia-like disease a week ago, prompting the insurance company to call in professionals to check the air conditioning and water system at the seven-story building on Jefferson. Tests to the air conditioning system proved negative. But when traces of the bacteria were found on some toilets and drinking fountains, the company decided to turn off the water, chlorinate it and restart it, a process expected to take a couple of days, a company spokeswoman said.
"Our first priority is the health and well-being of the workers," spokeswoman Helen Stojic said Thursday.
Legionnaires' disease -- so called because it was first diagnosed when it killed 34 people attending an American Legion convention in Philadelphia in 1976 -- is caused by the Legionella bacteria, which thrive in stagnant, warm water. Outbreaks of this disease have been associated with cooling towers, showers, faucets, hot tubs/whirlpool spas and other sources of aerosolized water.
People can contract the disease by breathing vapor from a contaminated water supply. It is not transmitted from person to person.
The stricken Blue Cross Blue Shield employee is being treated and is recovering, said Stojic, who declined to elaborate or identify the worker. There have been no other cases identified at the company, she said.
The company expects to reopen the building Monday.
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