In a press release Monday, April 11, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services stated that two more deaths in Genesee County have been attributed to Legionnaries Disease. The MDHHS reported in Monday's statement that from 2014 to 2015 there have been 91 cases and 12 deaths from Legionnaries in county.
For some odd reason the three additional cases from 2014 and 2015 were not reported to the public health system. According to the MDHHS press release two cases were not "Properly reported" to the public health system and the third case was somehow reported in a "Different jurisdiction".
A public health investigation is trying to figure out where people who have died or have been sickened with Legionnaires Disease were exposed to the illness. Places where it is believed people contracted the disease include hospitals, water, and community venues according to the release.
The press release also stated that the MDHHS "Cannot conclude that the increase is related to the water switch in Flint nor can we rule out a possible association at this time".
Not only is this new information disturbing but it suggests to me that once again the public has not been made aware of extremely important information regarding a life threatening illness lurking in the Flint area. Oh, and yes, it is not much of a leap to speculate that this out break of Legionnaires is directly related to the Flint water crisis. I mean come on!
Jeff Brown
Editor in Chief
Purple Walrus Press.
Ypsilanti, MI based Local, State and National News & Views.
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