Nine people have contracted Legionnaire’s disease after visiting Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif.
Disneyland voluntarily shut down two water cooling towers in one of its backstage areas after discovering they contained high levels of the bacteria that causes Legionnaire’s, according to the Orange County Register. The towers were chemically treated to combat the problem, and there is no ongoing threat to guests’ health, the Register reports.
Legionnaire’s Disease is a serious lung infection most often caused by inhaling microscopic water droplets tainted by the bacteria legionella. It typically strikes the elderly and people with compromised immune systems, and can be fatal, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Twelve cases of the disease have been reported in the Anaheim area; among those, eight people had visited Disneyland in September and one worked there, the Register reports. One person, who had not visited Disneyland, died from the disease. The victims’ ages range from 52 to 94.
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