Legionnaire S Disease

State safety and health officials have begun a building maintenance inspection and other testing at the Torrance courthouse after a bailiff was found to have legionnaire's disease. But Rick Rice of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health said Friday that an inspection of the five-story structure has so far turned up no evidence. A report will be issued next week.

An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease has killed two people and sickened at least 22 more, and about the only link investigators have found is that the victims lived, worked or passed through a 6-square-mile area of suburban Detroit. The number of cases rose Monday to 24 from 12 over the weekend, though most of those were older cases just being reported. At least two hospitals awaited test results to see if any recently admitted patients have the disease.

The question quietly circulating here is whether Legionnaires' disease is being spread by the battered refuse left by Hurricane Katrina. Some New Orleans-area doctors say they think the bacterium that causes the disease, a severe form of pneumonia, may be growing in the soggy remains of buildings flooded after the hurricane. But some experts question whether the bacterium can grow in that environment, and state officials insist there is no public health threat.

The relatives of two patients who contracted Legionnaires' disease and died last year at Good Samaritan Hospital have sued the facility and its physicians, claiming they mishandled the outbreak and then tried to cover it up. The families of Kwok Hin Cheng, 65, and Charles Griego, 67, have filed separate lawsuits in Los Angeles County Superior Court, each seeking more than $20 million in damages. Both men underwent bypass surgery at the hospital, contracted the illness and died within two weeks.

Nine people have become ill since January, including two who later died, with Legionnaires' disease acquired at Good Samaritan Hospital in downtown Los Angeles, county health officials confirmed Sunday night. One patient, a 55-year-old man, died June 15, said Dr. David Dassey, deputy chief of acute communicable disease control for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.

Los Angeles County health officials acknowledged Monday that they should have informed the public weeks ago about a Legionnaires' disease outbreak at Good Samaritan Hospital, where nine patients became ill, including two who died. Those health officials struggled to explain why they did not release information about the risk even though they knew that one of the patients infected with the respiratory ailment died in May. The second person died in June.

Relatives of two people who contracted Legionnaires' disease and died at Good Samaritan Hospital since May said doctors at the downtown Los Angeles facility did not inform them of the patients' hospital-acquired respiratory infections. At least, that was the case until Tuesday, when the children of one of the patients were telephoned by the hospital's chief of staff, told of the infection and warned to expect a call from a reporter about the case.

A Los Angeles County supervisor will ask the Department of Health Services to investigate why it did not notify the public about a recent outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in a downtown hospital. The motion by Michael D. Antonovich on Tuesday's agenda also calls for the department to outline changes to its policy on publicizing outbreaks.

Facing sharp criticism from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, health officials said Tuesday that they will require Good Samaritan Hospital to alert all patients admitted since January about a recent Legionnaires' disease outbreak at the hospital. And they vowed to mandate similar written notification in future outbreaks of that and other infectious diseases at all hospitals in the county.

Los Angeles County health officials said Tuesday that their failure to publicize a recent Legionnaires' disease outbreak at a hospital was an isolated incident. Dr. Thomas Garthwaite, director of the Department of Health Services, told the county Board of Supervisors that he has reviewed all disease outbreaks from the past year and concluded that his agency is not withholding information from the public about any major health concern.