legionnaires disease cta (Chicago)

[link to cbs2chicago.com]

It's long been known that Legionnaires' thrives in stagnant pools of water.
On Friday, CBS 2 has learned from sources familiar with the CTA investigation that one of its large pieces of cleaning equipment may be to blame for an infection that's left a young man fighting for his life.

A 37-year-old CTA electrician was still in Naperville's Edward Hospital in critical condition Friday -- one week after he checked himself in suffering from Legionnaires' Disease.

The Will County man had to be put into a medically induced coma so that doctors could attempt to stabilize his heart and lower his temperature. The employee's wife told CBS 2: "At this time I need to focus my energy on my husband's health and well being. She added that she believes "all this could have been prevented ... it's just water."

Legionnaires' Disease is a water-borne illness that the employee may have contracted while repairing equipment used to clean trains and buses.

Ground zero for the investigation is a vehicle barn that sits beside Midway Airport's L station. Inside are high-powered train washers. The industrial versions of what we often drive through to clean our own cars are being disassembled as an independent environmental firm hired by the CTA looks for any signs of the bacteria causing Legionnaires' Disease.

Sources say the victim and his partner had been working on a train washer in the garage. They say his job was to repair the roof brush unit, which had been broken for six months.

That reportedly allowed water to pool inside the equipment creating a breeding ground for the bacteria. When the unit was turned back on, noxious vapors were released that sources say caused the victim to gag and actually leave the room, the sources said.

Sources say during Friday's probe, the room filled with a "gagging stench" -- not unlike the smell that overpowed the electrician and his partner in early July. Investigators are also examining the washers at the Archer Avenue Bus Garage where the electrician also worked.

Within days of the exposure, the victim became sick, the sources said. One week after the washing incident, he drove himself to the hospital. He's been in intensive care ever since. It's now the job of communicable disease experts to determine exactly where he contracted the illness.

"You want to look back at about two weeks before their onset of their illness to see what exposures they might have had to water sources, because this bacteria is found in pretty much nearly in any water source," Dr. Kathleen Ritger of the Chicago Department of Public Health said.

CTA officials say there is no indication that the transit authority is the source of the illness.

"There are no other employee illnesses at any of the locations where he has worked," CTA president Richard Rodriguez said.

Still, they're not taking any chances. A letter has been sent out to about 800 CTA employees notifying them of their colleague's condition. Without another case, investigators cannot conclude the Midway washer was indeed the source. For now, no concrete connection has surfaced and the point of exposure to the potentially deadly contamination remains uncertain.

The city's public health agency is working in concert with the Will County Health Department to try and definitively determine how the man contracted the illness.

The general public is not at risk because Legionnaires' is not spread person to person, but rather from water to person. Symptoms typically show up five to six days after initial infection