Health Bureau closes hotel pool due to legionella cases

The Health Bureau (SSM) last Friday ordered the temporary closure of the swimming pool of the Parisian Macao Hotel in Cotai.

The temporary closure is among a series of preventive measures taken by the bureau following three recent cases of Legionnaires’ disease in Hong Kong. 

SSM said two patients had stayed at The Parisian hotel between January and March. A third had stayed at the hotel in December but only showed symptoms in January.

In a statement, the SSM says it had collaborated with the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) to conduct an inspection of the hotel unit, the day after being notified about the matter by the Hong Kong health authorities.

After the inspection, the SSM ordered the hotel to adopt several measures; aside from the temporary closure of the swimming pool, the hotel was also ordered to disinfect its jacuzzis, swimming pool, fountains and water piping system.

The SSM said it had collected water samples from all of these for analysis, and that the results would be available next week.

Legionnaires’ disease is an infection caused by Legionella Pneumophila, a bacterium that can live in fresh water and other aquatic environments. These include artificial aquatic systems, swimming pools, cooling systems, fountains and home medical devices.

It is most likely to thrive and spread in temperatures between 20 and 45 degrees Celsius.

As swimming pools are continually disinfected through chlorination, and have a water temperature cooler than the ideal environment for Legionella Pneumophila, the risk of infection in swimming pools is low.

The symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease include fever, dry cough, breathing difficulty, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

The condition can be cured by antibiotics. RM