European tourist caught Legionnaires' Disease in Chiang Mai hotel

[rooster59]

European tourist caught Legionnaires' Disease in Chiang Mai hotel

 

 

A public health official in Chiang Mai has admitted that a European tourist went down with Legionnaires' Disease after staying in Chiang Mai.

 

He said that foreigners tend not to have resistance to the legionella bacteria that causes the condition. 

 

But he added that Thais thankfully have a natural resistance to the bacteria. 

 

Dr Sumeth Onwandee, head of the Urban Institute for Disease Prevention in the northern Thai capital, said that the hotel's hot water systems including a reservoir for hot water, taps and shower heads were checked.

 

The hotel was not named.

 

The bacteria propagates in temperatures of 32 to 35 degrees.

 

Infected persons can develop a kind of pneumonia. There are thought to be about 8,000 to 18,000 cases in the US each year.

 

The disease was first identified after the 1976 American Legion convention in a hotel in Philadelphia.

 

Many legionnaires and other people died prompting one of the biggest disease investigations in US history. 

 

There is no vaccine for the disease and prevention depends on good maintenance of water systems. 

 

Dr Sumeth said that most Thais are immune though foreigners are more susceptible. 

 

Sanook did not report on the condition of the tourist who contracted the disease.

 

Source: Sanook

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-06-23

[Darcula]

19 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

The hotel was not named.

 

Oh, that famous group.

 

[pokerface1]

Thanks for the heads up now I know where it got it's name

[canuckamuck]

He could have gotten it from somewhere other than the hotel. 

[trainman34014]

So; Thai's are used to living in filth so they are immune.   Welcome to Thailand 4 !

[SpeakeasyThai]

How Thai is that! Don't name the hotel so even more unsuspecting tourists fall sick.

[SpeakeasyThai]

30 minutes ago, canuckamuck said:

He could have gotten it from somewhere other than the hotel. 

Quite right. And futhermore what is he doing in Thailand in the first place! They come and just make problems.

[MekkOne]

8 minutes ago, SpeakeasyThai said:

How Thai is that! Don't name the hotel so even more unsuspecting tourists fall sick.

It was probably one of this filthy illegal hotels that are the cancer of this nation right now...

[transam]

9 minutes ago, SpeakeasyThai said:

How Thai is that! Don't name the hotel so even more unsuspecting tourists fall sick.

Perhaps looking to see if it were owned by a farang....

BUT, I do wonder why there is not more of this infection stuff here...

 

For sure I get Verrucas on my feet from Hotels, 4 now...Thankfully they don't seem to kill...

[verticalift]

As a Canadian Expat, I was unfortunately on the receiving end of Legionaires Disease in late 2007. I was lucky. The disease is basically an upper respiratory infection caused by bacteria in water vapor. It is spread mostly by those old window type air conditioners that have not been kept clean. Bacteria and mold will grow in the drip tray and on the vents / screens. When the air-con is turned on, the room is filled with bacteria and mold spores. 

The bacteria will also grow around faucets and shower heads that have not been used in a while. Basically, any place where water droplets are allowed the stagnate. Many hotels in tropical countries are faced with this problem, especially when rooms sit vacant for days or weeks on end. Staff and owners of these smaller hotels and guest houses have no idea about what it is, or how it is spread.

Though I contracted Legonaires Disease at a hotel in Eket Nigeria while flying Helicopters for Bristow, I have since been very aware and causious at home in Phuket where I have lived for the past 20+ years. There is no immunity to the disease. Anybody can get it, if subjected to it. Keep your air-cons clean guys. Strip them down every 6 months and thoroughly clean them using a bleach type spray. Also, keep the faucets and shower heads clean, using bleach spray ie Clorox or Detol.

Trust me when I say, you do not want to get this. The mortality rate is around 40%.

 

 

Edited June 23, 2018 by verticalift
Typo

[fantom]

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

He said that foreigners tend not to have resistance to the legionella bacteria that causes the condition. 

  

But he added that Thais thankfully have a natural resistance to the bacteria.  

I am not convinced that thais have natural resistance to legionella, it is news to me. Certainly some people have lower resistance to legionella but that has little to do with nationality.

It is criminal in my view for the authorities, medical or otherwise to withhold the name of the hotel following an identified outbreak.

[Torrens54]

3 hours ago, Darcula said:

 

Oh, that famous group.

 

Sadly, likely to become a GROWING GROUP if anonymity can be preserved!

[Odysseus123]

"Thais thankfully have a natural resistance to the bacteria.."

 

All is good,then.

[dave moir]

1 hour ago, trainman34014 said:

So; Thai's are used to living in filth so they are immune.   Welcome to Thailand 4 !

Like a lot of countries you are advised not to drink the tap water or use ice! In the uk people have contracted legionella so it's not about Thais living in dirty conditions! I've lived here over 6 years in Chiang Mai use the tap water every day to clean my teeth and have never had a problem! So please don't get on a moral high insulting Thais for their standard of living!!! ?

[geisha]

Can i ask what the symptoms are , and if you can catch this’ disease by  only staying  a few days in a hotel with this problem ? How’about  when  you rent a condo ? Should you automatically get someone in to check the aircon system out ? 

[Emster23]

"He said that foreigners tend not to have resistance to the legionella bacteria that causes the condition. 

  But he added that Thais thankfully have a natural resistance to the bacteria."

I reckon management of hotel never thought perhaps customers might be from another country? Ah, magic word "thought"

Hmm French foreign legionaires perhaps? Beau Geste? The Lost Patrol?

[Odysseus123]

5 minutes ago, Emster23 said:

"He said that foreigners tend not to have resistance to the legionella bacteria that causes the condition. 

  But he added that Thais thankfully have a natural resistance to the bacteria."

I reckon management of hotel never thought perhaps customers might be from another country? Ah, magic word "thought"

Hmm French foreign legionaires perhaps? Beau Geste? The Lost Patrol?

The American Legion of veterans (true).

 

Tho' Chiang Mai in March could be compared to Fort Zinderneuf,one supposes.?

 

[Dellboy218]

41 minutes ago, geisha said:

Can i ask what the symptoms are , and if you can catch this’ disease by  only staying  a few days in a hotel with this problem ? How’about  when  you rent a condo ? Should you automatically get someone in to check the aircon system out ? 

This link gives a fair description. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/legionnaires-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20351747

More likely you may get Pharyngitis from dirty aircons. A couple of years ago I stayed in 3 hotels in Manila for my company and I caught this in each place.  Mother of all sore throats cured by a course of Penicillin.  Each hotel room had an all in one aircon mounted in the wall. One had a clean air filter but the evaporator fins were totally clogged with wet fluff, the other had no filter and the evap fins were black from the pollution.  Keep the aircon cleaned and you shouldn't have a problem.  No idea whether it works but I also spray a Dettol mix in the evaps. 

Edited June 23, 2018 by Dellboy218

[Belzybob]

I hope that this 'health official's" statement is just another that has been mis-translated. I believe Thais have no more resistance to Legionnaires than they do rabies.

[MW72]

35 minutes ago, geisha said:

Can i ask what the symptoms are , and if you can catch this’ disease by  only staying  a few days in a hotel with this problem ? How’about  when  you rent a condo ? Should you automatically get someone in to check the aircon system out ? 

Don't worry about the air con if it is a window unit or a split unit. You will not get Legionella from those. The only air con that may have Legionella are the large systems that do big office blocks and hotels. The biggest risk domestically comes from your shower heads or spa pools. If you haven't been in the condo for a while then lower the shower head close to the drain and turn it on slowly for a couple of minutes. Legionella bacteria need stagnant water to proliferate so if all your outlets are used regularly then you have nothing to fear. 

 

Symptoms like almost everything are flu like. Only about 5% of people exposed will get symptoms and it is more deadly for the elderly, smokers and people with respiratory issues. The vast majority of those who get symptoms recover. Thais probably get it and just think its flu so it goes unrecorded rather than them being immune.

[worgeordie]

Another half story,with the important things left out,

 name of the victim,nationality,age,name of the hotel

where he contracted the disease,and if he's dead or alive,

maybe the former,and why its been hushed up.

 

regards Worgeordie

 

[bubba]

Now I realise that Dr Sumeth Onwandee, head of the Urban Institute for Disease Prevention in the northern Thai capital, prefaces his name with a 'Dr', but is he actually a physician? Look at this statement:

 

 

He said that foreigners tend not to have resistance to the legionella bacteria that causes the condition. 

 

But he added that Thais thankfully have a natural resistance to the bacteria. 

 

By "resistance" I assume he means immunity. Humans are not born with a "natural" immunity to a pathogenic bacterium, depending upon the national border within which they were born. Immunity is acquired by exposure to the pathogen with subsequent development of cells and processes that present an immune reponse specific to that pathogen.

[Italian guy]

5 hours ago, rooster59 said:

foreigners tend not to have resistance to the legionella bacteria that causes the condition. 

You see? It's their fault, stupid foreigners! 

[moe666]

Ok lets get a few things straight about legionella. It is hard to catch for starters, it usually is carried in water droplets, the droplets from a shower head spray are to big, usually those droplets will not travel into the upper respiratory track. If the spray is to small they bacteria is to large to be carried.

 

Catching from a window air con is sketchy unless it is blowing out water, if you catch something from a mold or spores not legionella. Typically most cases resemble a bad cold or flu  if you have a strong immune system you should be ok.

 

You have to remember the original folks were all older and they were partying down drinking alot and not to much sleep. The spray from a cooling tower traveled over a roof and down the wall of the hotel and fell into the front entrance of the hotel. These people were going and coming and many exposed multiple times.

 

I will take a guess but I would think the fellow contacted from on of those spray systems they use to blow air and a fine mist of water to cool things off. I will walk into the street to avoid one of these.

 

It took them a while to figure out what was killing the legion folks what they discovered is that it is a bacteria that acts like a virus. All there research was geared to looking for a virus while they had a bacteria on their hands.

 

I worked ten years in industrial water treatment treating cooling towers, closed systems, and boilers. I attended many a training session on  legionella treatment. Dave do not worry about catching it from brushing your teeth. Unless of course you use a spray bottle of water

Edited June 23, 2018 by moe666

[Lacessit]

Rifampicin is the antibiotic of choice in treating Legionnaire's disease. However, whether the doctor prescribes it depends on their diagnostic skills.

[moe666]

1 minute ago, Lacessit said:

Rifampicin is the antibiotic of choice in treating Legionnaire's disease. However, whether the doctor prescribes it depends on their diagnostic skills.

The antibiotic needs to be one of the synthetic variety, penicillin has no effect

[Lacessit]

3 minutes ago, moe666 said:

The antibiotic needs to be one of the synthetic variety, penicillin has no effect

What are you trying to say? Rifampicin is not a synthetic. Equally, it is not penicillin.

[moe666]

Just now, Lacessit said:

What are you trying to say? Rifampicin is not a synthetic. Equally, it is not penicillin.

No just adding more info to your post.

[Tchooptip]

2 hours ago, verticalift said:

As a Canadian Expat, I was unfortunately on the receiving end of Legionaires Disease in late 2007. I was lucky. The disease is basically an upper respiratory infection caused by bacteria in water vapor. It is spread mostly by those old window type air conditioners that have not been kept clean. Bacteria and mold will grow in the drip tray and on the vents / screens. When the air-con is turned on, the room is filled with bacteria and mold spores. 

The bacteria will also grow around faucets and shower heads that have not been used in a while. Basically, any place where water droplets are allowed the stagnate. Many hotels in tropical countries are faced with this problem, especially when rooms sit vacant for days or weeks on end. Staff and owners of these smaller hotels and guest houses have no idea about what it is, or how it is spread.

Though I contracted Legonaires Disease at a hotel in Eket Nigeria while flying Helicopters for Bristow, I have since been very aware and causious at home in Phuket where I have lived for the past 20+ years. There is no immunity to the disease. Anybody can get it, if subjected to it. Keep your air-cons clean guys. Strip them down every 6 months and thoroughly clean them using a bleach type spray. Also, keep the faucets and shower heads clean, using bleach spray ie Clorox or Detol.

Trust me when I say, you do not want to get this. The mortality rate is around 40%.

 

 

I think hydrogen peroxide is also working well probably safer for the users than bleach IMHO

[Lacessit]

3 minutes ago, Tchooptip said:

I think hydrogen peroxide is also working well probably safer for the users than bleach IMHO

Hydrogen peroxide is too unstable to be effective. The key to controlling Legionella is regular maintenance of cooling towers to remove biomass harboring the bacteria, and a free available chlorine content of 0.5 - 1 mg/L.