Eleven people have died in the southeastern Polish city of Rzeszów due to the legionella outbreak. In addition, 144 others have also become infected, health inspector Adam Sidor confirmed on Monday.
The fatalities were aged between 64 and 95 and suffered from chronic illnesses.
“We are looking for the source of contamination,” said Sidor. According to the initial test results, legionella bacteria were found in varying degrees in half of the first eighteen water samples examined. The Polish newspaper Wyborcza reports that only two samples showed high contamination.
“At the moment, we cannot confirm whether the water supply network is the source of the contamination, but the coming days will be decisive,” it said. Last weekend, the city carried out an additional disinfection of the network.
Legionella is a severe lung infection of bacterial origin. The contamination occurs through the respiratory tract after inhaling bacteria through, for example, water or air conditioning.