Two people are dead, three are in intensive care and almost 30 more have been affected by a Legionella outbreak linked to Lisbon’s São Francisco Xavier hospital.
According to reports, the potentially-deadly bacteria “could be circulating on the outside” of building, bearing in mind that one victim contracted it without spending much time in the hospital at all.
Contingency methods include closing down air-conditioning sources and widespread cleaning.
Health director Graça Freitas described the moves as a form of “shock treatment to interrupt contamination”.
The two people who died, a man and a woman, were both in their 70s. It is understood that they contracted the bacteria after visiting the hospital’s out-patient facilities.
UPDATE: Since writing this story, the total number of people affected by this outbreak, including the two that died, has gone up to 38.
