Golly gosh who would think this sort of thing would happen in this day and age - thought and prayers are with everyone there.

Legionnaires' Victim 'Thought He Had Flu'
Sky NewsBy Nick Martin, in Edinburgh | Sky News – 22 minutes ago


Legionnaires' Victim 'Thought He Had Flu'

The brother of the only victim of Scotland's legionnaires outbreak has told Sky News how his brother thought he had flu in the days before he died.

Father-of-two Bert Air, 56, a builder, died in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on Tuesday after contracting the bug.

His brother Ronald Air said the whole family was devastated.

"
We're all really shocked. Can't believe it. He was my buddy as well as my brother.

"
He told me the other day how he wasn't feeling too well. He was shivering and couldn't get warm in the house.

"
I told him to get himself off to the doctors but he wasn't one for the doctor. He's stubborn like me. But we didn't expect this."


Mr Air was understood to be working for a building firm in the area of south west Edinburgh which officials suspect of be the source of the outbreak.

Mr Air's daughter Kelly was too upset to comment but said everyone was in shock.

There are now 24 confirmed cases of legionnaires' disease and 27 suspected infections, Scotland's health secretary Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed.

Of those, 14 are being treated in intensive care, two have been discharged, and the others are either being treated in hospital or in the community.

There must be a common denominator! That is a SAME place where everyone who has contacted this disease must have visited at one time or another in the city. Look at the wind direction for the last month correlate this with the movements of the affected to try to localise the possible up wind direction and check out the possibilities. I hope they are doing this as they dont tell you this on the News. If the afflicted live miles apart and there are no common denominator this would point to more than one source which is very disturbing.

Cases Of Legionnaires' Continue To Increase
Sky NewsBy Jane Chilton, Scotland correspondent | Sky News – Sat, Jun 9, 2012
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Cases Of Legionnaires' Continue To Increase

The number of people believed to have been infected by the legionnaires' disease outbreak in Edinburgh has reached 80.

It brings the total number of confirmed cases to 36, and the amount of suspected cases to 44.

This is an increase of eight in the total numbers of confirmed, and a decrease of two suspected cases.

Of those patients being treated in hospital, 15 are in intensive care and 27 are on general wards.

A further 16 cases are being treated in the community, and 16 others have since been discharged from hospital.

Five cases are being treated outside the NHS Lothian coverage area.

A patient who was being treated in NHS Highland has now been transferred to Glasgow;
one patient is being treated in the north of England;
two in NHS Tayside and one in NHS Lanarkshire.

At this stage all these cases are considered to be linked to the south-west Edinburgh outbreak .

The ages of the confirmed cases range between 33 and 76, with more men than women affected.

One person has died since the outbreak and has been named as Robert Air, 56, from the Seafield area of Edinburgh.

The Health and Safety Executive and Edinburgh City Council said they are continuing their investigations into the possible source of the outbreak.

Nicola Sturgeon , Scotland's health secretary, said: "
Although there has been a rise in the number of confirmed cases, it is reassuring to see that the number of suspected cases is decreasing and that 16 people have now been discharged from hospital.

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

"
It is important to note that the risk to the general public remains low but anyone with concerns should contact their GP or NHS 24's dedicated hotline on 0800 0858 531.

"
I want to continue to stress that this bacteria is not passed on person to person or by drinking water."


In a separate development, the Health and Safety Executive has confirmed it has served an improvement notice on North British Distillery , the company responsible for one of the cooling towers that is being investigated.

The Health and Safety Executive and Edinburgh City Council are continuing their investigations into the possible source of the outbreak.