[ad_1]
The Regional Health Administration of the North (ARS-N) assured that “the local Health Authorities are conducting epidemiological and environmental investigations, in accordance with the norms and guidelines of the General Directorate of Health”, and that, although it has not yet been detected the origin of the outbreak, preventive measures have already been taken.
“As a result of this investigation and as a precautionary measure, the ULS Health Authority [Unidade Local de Saúde] of Matosinhos, suspended the operation of the cooling towers of two industries, located in the municipality of Matosinhos ”, it is explained in the same text.
The Northern Regional Health Authority finally guaranteed that “it will continue to be attentive to the evolution of the situation and will take the additional measures that are necessary to control it.”
The outbreak of ‘legionella’ that is affecting the municipalities of Matosinhos, Vila do Conde and Póvoa de Varzim has already caused nine deaths, with 24 people still hospitalized in three hospitals in the region.
Last week, the Public Ministry announced the opening of an investigation to investigate the causes of the outbreak, which remains of unknown origin.
The organization admitted that the geographic dispersion of the ‘legionella’ cases diagnosed in three municipalities in the Greater Porto region “is compatible with a possible environmental source.”
In a statement, ARS-N clarified that since October 29, 97 people have contracted the disease, 72 of which are associated with the coastal municipalities of Matosinhos, Vila do Conde and Póvoa de Varzim.
“The geographical dispersion of the cases is compatible with an eventual environmental source subject to the effects of the climatic changes of the Bárbara depression, which occurred in the national territory during the incubation period of the referred cases,” explains ARS-N.
Today, the Vila do Conde City Council assured that the analyzes carried out on the municipality’s public water network were negative for the presence of the bacteria.
Legionnaires’ disease, caused by ‘Legionella pneumophila’, is contracted by inhaling contaminated water vapor droplets (aerosols) so small that they carry the bacteria to the lungs, depositing them in the lung alveoli.
[ad_2]
