Government denies Legionella at SVDP home, insists only ‘preventive maintenance’

Weekly Illum newspaper is reports that government is denying that any outbreaks of Legionella bacteria have taken place in recent months in the home for the elderly St Vincent De Paule.

The Illum reports that teams were busy carrying out pre-flushes of chlorine on parts of St Vincent De Paule's potable water system earlier this week,

Such chlorination flushes are often used as part of water treatments to contain or control the spread of Legionella bacteria, which spread through water systems and can lead to outbreaks of Legionnaire's disease, to which elderly people are especially vulnerable.

However the government denied that there were any outbreaks of Legionella bacteria, insisting that such treatments were simply part of routine preventive measures.

While insisted that any outbreaks had taken place over the past months, the government maintained that what had increased were the controls on water systems to avoid outbreaks.

"Maintenance on the water systems is on-going," the government said, reiterating that no areas of the home were affected by Legionella bacteria.