Legionnaires' Outbreak: 'Risk Very Low'

There are now 21 cases of Legionnaires' disease and 19 suspected cases in Scotland, the country's health secretary Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed.

She was speaking during news conference organised after an outbreak of the disease left one man in his 50s dead on Tuesday.

Twelve of the 21 confirmed sufferers are in intensive care, two have been discharged and the others are either being treated in hospital or in the community.

The number of confirmed cases rose by four from the 17 announced at a previous update this morning. There are also four more suspected cases.

However, Ms Sturgeon stressed that the risk of disease to the general public remains very low.

The majority of the confirmed cases have been linked geographically to the Dalry, Gorgie and Saughton areas in the southwest of Edinburgh.

More than a dozen industrial cooling water towers at several sites have been examined to see if they are the source of the outbreak.

More cases of the disease are expected to emerge in the next few days because it can take as long as two weeks for symptoms to show.

But a decline is then expected because the source is thought to have been identified as pointing to cooling towers, said Dr Duncan McCormick, a consultant in public health medicine and chairman of the incident management team at NHS Lothian.

Ms Sturgeon said: "Samples have been taken from all of those towers and all of them have been subject to what is called shock treatment which is effectively chemical treatment to deal with the risk of ongoing infection, and there will be sampling over the course of today around these towers."

This morning 15 people were being treated in intensive care but this has come down to 12.

Dr McCormick has urged anyone feeling unwell to contact medical staff.

He said: "There is no need to stay indoors. The main thing is to be aware of the risk to yourself, based on your other underlying conditions, and if you become unwell to contact the GP or NHS 24."

Legionella bacteria is commonly found in sources of water, such as rivers and lakes, but it can end up in artificial water supply systems, including air conditioning systems, water services and cooling towers.

The disease mainly affects older people and those with underlying illnesses. It cannot be spread directly from person to person.

Symptoms are mild headaches, muscle pain, fever, persistent cough and sometimes vomiting and diarrhoea. They can begin at any time between two and 14 days after being infected.

The investigation by officials is being led by the City of Edinburgh Council's Environmental Health Department and the Health and Safety Executive .

It has been confirmed that one site under health authority surveillance is a distillery, part-owned by drinks giant Diageo .

Its chief executive, Paul Walsh, told Sky News: "This is a very, very tragic situation... we will co-operate in every and any manner in which we can."