The William Donald Schaeffer state office building in Baltimore is being monitored for Legionnaire?s disease after one employee became ill.
“There?s no reason right now to believe that this building was the point of contact” for the employee contracting Legionnaire?s, said state epidemiologist Dr. David Blythe on Thursday.
Sinai Hospital reported the diagnosis August 16th, and state health officials were only able to contact the infected employee Tuesday, he said.
Legionnaire?s disease is a bacterial pneumonia marked by fever, shortness of breath and coughing, and is treated with antibiotics, according to the National Institutes of Health. It is not contagious from person to person, but is contracted by inhaling aerosolized water droplets containing the bacteria.
Two other employees with respiratory illnesses are being monitored, and standard annual testing of the building?s water and air conditioning systems was conducted around the same time, officials said. Results were not available Thursday.
