Image: Millions of people who visited Sydney’s CBD over Christmas and the New Years have been issued a health alert. AAP Image, Dan Himbrechts
by GRACE JOHNSON
Millions of people who visited Sydney CBD since Christmas Eve are now on alert for symptoms of legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia, after seven were diagnosed with the debilitating lung disease.
NSW Health issued a warning today (Wednesday January 3), urging people who had visited the city centre in the last 10 days to monitor for health symptoms.
The warning comes after three women and four men were admitted to hospital with pneumonia before being identified to have been carrying the legionella bacteria, which causes legionnaires’ disease.
The patients are of various ages, from their 20s to their 70s.
The disease cannot be spread from person to person. Instead, it is usually spread by contaminated water particles emitted by a cooling system.
According to NSW Health, symptoms of legionnaires’ disease can develop up to 10 days after the time of exposure to contaminated water particles in the air and can lead to severe chest infections such as pneumonia.
The seven people diagnosed with the disease had independently visited locations between Bathurst Street, Sussex Street, Elizabeth Street and Circular Quay in the 10 days prior to developing symptoms.
On New Year’s Eve, more than a million people visited the Sydney Harbour foreshore alone to see the fireworks.
NSW Health said that their environmental health officers are working closely with the City of Sydney Council to inspect cooling towers.
“Managers of buildings with cooling towers are being contacted and informed of the cluster,” they said in a statement.
“Building owners should ensure that their cooling towers are operated and maintained in compliance with the NSW Public Health Regulation 2022.”
The two main kinds of legionella bacteria in NSW are generally found in air conditioning cooling towers and bodies of water such as spas, and soil or potting mix.
In September 2023, NSW Health said that as many as 52 people had been affected by legionnaires’ disease as a result of breathing in bacteria from soil.
The disease is sometimes fatal, but those most at risk are people with suppressed immune systems or pre-existing lung conditions.
