Notice served on distillery close to Legionnaires' outbreak zone

Health inspectors have served an improvement notice on a distillery close to the site of an outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease in Edinburgh.

The Health and Safety Executive stressed that the order, served against the North British Distillery on Wheatfield Road, did not mean that its cooling tower was the definite source of the outbreak.

The improvment notice alleges that the distillery failed to adequately control the risk of legionella bacteria in one of its three cooling towers. The company has shut down all three towers as a precaution.

The total number of cases has now risen to 74, 14 of which are being treated in intensive care. So far one man has died and doctors say they cannot rule out the possibility of further deaths.

The latest report from the Scottish Government Resilience Room (SGoRR) said there were now 28 confirmed cases and 46 suspected cases, with an age range between 33 and 76.

The North British Distillery, located between Tynecastle and Murrayfield stadiums, is on the northern side of the area of the capital affected by the outbreak.

HSE visit

The HSE visited the distillery as part of its investigation into the source of the outbreak, which was first detected on Monday.

In a statement it said: "Issuing the improvement notice does not mean that this cooling tower has been identified as the source of the outbreak.

"The source of the outbreak may never be conclusively identified, based on our experience from previous outbreaks."

North British Distillers has been given three weeks to show the HSE that it has put appropriate controls in place. The company also has three weeks to appeal against the notice.

All but four of the cases are being treated in the NHS Lothian area. One patient has been moved from the Highlands to Glasgow, another is being treated in the north of England, one in the Tayside region and one in Lanarkshire.

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said it was "reassuring" that 10 of the infected people had been discharged from hospital.

She said: "NHS Lothian continues to be very busy and contact has been made with other health boards in case capacity at other hospitals is required."

Weekend peak

One man, named as 56-year-old Robert Air, has so far died during the outbreak. Doctors say they cannot rule out the possiblity of further deaths, although more recent cases have tended to show less severe symptoms.

The number of cases is expected to reach a peak over the weekend as the disease has an incubation period of between two and 14 days.

People admitted to hospital with the disease have been asked whether they were at any large public gatherings such as Hearts' Scottish Cup victory parade on Gorgie Road or the Jubilee street parties as doctors try to trace the source of the infection.

Dr Duncan McCormick, Chair of the incident management team, said: "The number of patients with confirmed or suspected Legionnaires' disease has increased since yesterday.

"This is exactly in line with what we expected and what we have predicted so far, based on the first presentation of patients and the incubation period of Legionnaires' disease which is between two and 14 days, but usually has an average of five to six days.

"We expect that the numbers of patients affected will peak over the weekend and then begin to fall as we move into the beginning of next week.

"The majority of patients who are presenting now are also on the lower end of the sickness scale and are therefore more likely to be treated in the community with appropriate care than be admitted into hospital, meaning that they are also unlikely to have underlying health conditions."

For more information on the Legionnaires' outbreak in Edinburgh click here

Notice served on distillery close to Legionnaires' outbreak zone

Source of Legionnaires' outbreak that has infected 61 'may never be known'

Legionnaires' outbreak: First victim was 'happy-go-lucky' father of two

Legionnaires' disease factfile

STV Health Centre: what is Legionnaires' disease?

Map of the outbreak area