LD outbreak shuts Disney cooling towers

USA: Two cooling towers at Disneyland, California, have been shut down after an outbreak of legionnaires’ disease in the city of Anaheim.

The Disneyland resort is one of the places the Orange County Health Care Agency is investigating as a potential source of the outbreak that has sickened a dozen people. Nine of the people who contracted the disease in September, visited or worked at Disneyland. Eight had been Disneyland visitors and one worked at the theme park. The other three are Orange County residents who had not visited the park.

Officials are testing water from a pair of cooling towers in the New Orleans Square area of Disneyland. The Orange County Register quotes a health care agency official confirming that Disney had reported disease-causing levels of legionella bacteria in two of its water towers.

The investigation is said to be continuing among the hotels, motels and businesses along the Harbor Boulevard corridor.