PARMA, Ohio (AP) - Officials with a health board in Ohio say 11 cases of Legionnaires’ disease have been confirmed in a Cleveland suburb, with one death reported.
The Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH’-guh) County Board of Health says 10 patients were hospitalized. A 93 year-old Parma woman died July 5.
Kevin Brennan, a board spokesman says the illnesses all occurred between early June and July among parishioners of the Saint Columbkille Parish in Parma. Brennan says it hasn’t been proven the illness was contracted there.
The board is working with officials of the Catholic parish and conducting environmental sampling.
Deacon Jim Armstrong, a spokesman for the Diocese of Cleveland, says the Catholic parish is fully cooperating.
The disease is a severe form of pneumonia caused by people breathing in water droplets containing Legionella bacteria.
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