Outbreak of community-acquired legionnaires’ disease in southeast Norway, May 2005

Abstract

Norwegian health authorities are investigating an outbreak of legionnaires’ disease in the neighbouring cities of Sarpsborg and Fredrikstad in southeastern Norway

An Outbreak of Legionnaires Disease Caused by Long-Distance Spread from an Industrial Air Scrubber in Sarpsborg, Norway

“…We set up a direct link between the local department of microbiology and the outbreak-control team. Physicians elsewhere in the country and in Europe were informed and encouraged to ask their patients with LD about travels to the affected area [15].…”

Aetiology and risk factors of community‐acquired pneumonia in hospitalized patients in Norway

“…Prior to the first recorded outbreak in 2001 , the number of notified cases varied from 0 to 17 cases per year , and the majority of the patients had been infected abroad. The largest outbreak so far in Norway took place in 2005 with 103 cases, of whom 10 died.…”

Risk Response to Environmental Hazards to Health – Towards an Ecological Approach

“…The legionella episode in Stavanger mostly involved the Stavanger population and local newspapers and authorities: the rest of the country waited to see if similar outbreaks would occur, reminded of this risk by the local press. The later occurrence of an additional local cluster in another village then preoccupied the Norwegian press: only the medical literature brought news of other incidents of legionellosis in Scandinavia and Europe, as well as timely reporting of other localised outbreaks of communicable and non-communicable diseases (MERREA, 2004; see also Blystad et al, 2005). The case of postal anthrax, however, occupied the American Press over the entire continent.…”

“…The two legionella outbreaks in Norway give stark illustration of some of these problems, and how they can be resolved (MERREA, 2004; see also Blystad et al, 2005). The initial outbreak, in 2001, the first such outbreak ever in the country, came as a surprise.…”

“…Conflicts between societally defined (i.e., given) and personal (self-adopted) role were equally apparent in the case of the fowl pest crisis in Belgium (Brunet and Houbaert, 2007), and directly contributed to the lack of trust between pigeon fanciers and the Food Agency. During the first legionella outbreak in Norway, in 2001, lack of clarity and consensus about the role of scientists and of the media, in terms of risk communication, contributed to confusion about the messages being given to the public, and fed the ensuing sense of panic (MERREA, 2004; see also Blystad et al, 2005). In the case of the postal anthrax crisis, these ambiguities and conflicts translated into a lack of trust about the perceived ability or willingness of some role holders to fulfill their responsibilities fairly and effectively: concern arose amongst postal workers, for example, that that preferential attention was being given to politicians and civil servants working in the government buildings targeted by the attack, compared to that given to the postal workers who had similar potential exposures and risks (MERREA, 2004).…”