Legionnaires Patient Dies: Test Results Due

Health officials are awaiting test results following the death of a patient affected by a Legionnaires outbreak.

The patient was among people suffering from the disease in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

A total of 16 people have been confirmed as having Legionnaires' disease, with the number of confirmed cases rising steadily since news of the outbreak emerged last Tuesday.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said yesterday that one of the patients in hospital had died.

No further details were released about the person who died, and officials are waiting for a cause of death from the coroner.

The HPA said there had been one further case confirmed in Stoke, bringing the total to 16.

All those affected are aged between their late-40s and mid-70s

A spokesman for University Hospital of North Staffordshire said: "The trust is currently treating 11 patients confirmed with Legionnaires' disease who are all in a stable or improving condition.

"One patient has sadly died. Three patients are well enough to go home and have been discharged."

A spokesman for Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, added: "We are treating a patient transferred from the University Hospital of North Staffordshire confirmed with Legionnaires' disease who is in a critical but stable condition."