Top professor backs call for public inquiry into Legionnaires' outbreak

Inquiry: Legionella microbe seen through a microscope.Janice Haney Carr, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

A leading professor of bacteriology has called for a public inquiry into a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires' disease.

Professor Hugh Pennington said the formal route is necessary after hearing new information which made him concerned that too few inspections are being carried out at potential sources.

Attention quickly turned to cooling towers in south-west Edinburgh after an outbreak began in May. Three people died and more than 100 became ill in the following weeks.

Prof Pennington said: "It's a nasty bug, the infection is preventable and it's a very expensive thing to treat when it happens.

"Spending more money on the regulatory side, making sure businesses have their cooling towers in order, would be money well spent.

"This is not a new problem. We have these outbreaks now and then, We need a good look and a public inquiry is one way of doing it."

He made the call after receiving information from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.

It would be "optimistic" to assume inspections are held even once a decade at the hundreds of cooling towers across the UK, he said.

Prof Pennington, emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen, joined Labour in calling for the Scottish Government to hold a public inquiry.

In a statement issued by the party, Prof Pennington said: "Something went badly wrong in Edinburgh. A public inquiry would be the most effective way to establish the facts and to prevent yet more outbreaks."

Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: "Prof Pennington's intervention is significant and his authoritative voice should be a reason for the Scottish Government to pause and reflect on their decision not to have an independent inquiry into this outbreak.

"There are real fears that the inspection regimes that the Health and Safety Executive and local authorities have are inadequate and are failing to protect citizens from these fatal outbreaks.

"Scots deserve to know that lessons will be learned and every step taken to prevent another outbreak and those who have suffered and lost relatives deserve nothing less."

The outbreak in Edinburgh was declared over by health officials last month.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "It would be entirely inappropriate to comment on a public inquiry at this time.

"The Health and Safety Executive is continuing its inquiries and any consideration of a public inquiry would have to wait until their investigations are complete."

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