Toronto’s outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease is up to 12 cases
The update marks an increase of three, up from last week’s reported nine cases
Toronto Public Health has confirmed to CP24 that there are now 12 cases of Legionnaires’ disease in the city.
The health agency said the outbreak remains “locally clustered,” with earlier cases reported to have been identified in Toronto’s southeastern area.
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“The investigation indicates that these cases may be linked as they all occurred close together in time and location,” a Toronto Public Health spokesperson told CP24. “The increase in confirmed cases reflects additional information received through the ongoing investigation and case follow-up.”
Toronto Public Health added that samples have been collected in an effort to locate potential exposures, but that no source has been identified.
Legionnaires’ disease is a form of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria. This bacteria can be found in water systems which have not been well-maintained, such as cooling towers, hot tubs, sprinkler systems, humidifiers and fountains. Illness is caused by breathing in water droplets containing the bacteria, but it cannot be spread from human to human.
The province reported 354 cases of Legionnaires’ disease last year. Twenty-six of those cases were fatal.
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
