S'pore officials say hospital water safe

S'pore officials say hospital water safe

SINGAPORE (DPA): Environmental officials ruled out on Sunday any risk of contracting Legionnaires' disease from hospital tap water and urged people not to become alarmed by an American physician's theory on the origin of the bacteria.

The Legionella bacteria grows in contaminated water, like the water in an air conditioning cooling tower," the Ministry of the Environment said. "It is not found in treated drinking water from the tap."

The bacteria can cause an acute infection of the lower respiratory tract and be fatal to the elderly.

Victor Yu, the chief of the infectious diseases section at the Veteran's Administration Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, suggested at a Singapore seminar on Wednesday there was a possibility that the bacteria might be found in the drinking water of hospitals and could be infecting patients. He cited studies he had conducted in Pennsylvania.