HEALTH authorities are revisiting a 2011 legionnaires' death at a major Brisbane hospital to see if it is linked to the recent outbreak of the disease.
The Wesley Hospital was effectively shut down for almost two weeks after the death of a patient who contracted legionnaires' disease.
The 66-year-old male cancer patient died from the disease on June 2 and a second patient, a 46-year-old woman, was admitted into intensive care with the lung infection days later.
A third patient tested positive to the legionella bacteria, which causes legionnaires' disease, on June 13 but is not presenting symptoms.
Queensland's Chief Health officer Dr Jeannette Young says records from the past five years showed there was one other legionnaires' death at the Wesley.
The male patient died from the disease in October, 2011.
Because it was a single case, no investigation was launched into the source of the bacteria.
Dr Young says she wants to know if he also caught the bacteria from taps or the hospital's water system.
Pathology labs have bacteria samples from all four cases.
"They can genotype the entire genome of the bacteria in all four cases and see if it matches up and see what degree of probability all cases came from the same source," Dr Young said.
The state's 17 public hospitals and health centres and 103 private hospitals have begun testing their water systems for legionella.
Previously, only routine legionella tests were done on the air-conditioning systems.
Dr Young says she will look at changing laws to ensure water systems are also routinely checked.
She says it's still unclear exactly where the bacteria at the Wesley originated and whether redundant pipes at the hospital had a part to play.
Pathology labs have also been asked to confirm that all legionella pneumophila cases in the past five years, particularly hospital-acquired cases, were correctly notified to Queensland Health.
A report on the outbreak and recommendations to prevent future outbreaks is due on September 30.
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