Cases Of Legionnaires' Continue To Increase

The number of people believed to have been infected by the legionnaires' disease outbreak in Edinburgh has reached 80.

It brings the total number of confirmed cases to 36, and the amount of suspected cases to 44.

This is an increase of eight in the total numbers of confirmed, and a decrease of two suspected cases.

Of those patients being treated in hospital, 15 are in intensive care and 27 are on general wards.

A further 16 cases are being treated in the community, and 16 others have since been discharged from hospital.

Five cases are being treated outside the NHS Lothian coverage area.

A patient who was being treated in NHS Highland has now been transferred to Glasgow; one patient is being treated in the north of England; two in NHS Tayside and one in NHS Lanarkshire.

At this stage all these cases are considered to be linked to the south-west Edinburgh outbreak .

The ages of the confirmed cases range between 33 and 76, with more men than women affected.

One person has died since the outbreak and has been named as Robert Air, 56, from the Seafield area of Edinburgh.

The Health and Safety Executive and Edinburgh City Council said they are continuing their investigations into the possible source of the outbreak.

Nicola Sturgeon , Scotland's health secretary, said: "Although there has been a rise in the number of confirmed cases, it is reassuring to see that the number of suspected cases is decreasing and that 16 people have now been discharged from hospital.

"NHS Lothian continue to be very busy and contact has been made with other health boards in case capacity at other hospitals is required.

"It is important to note that the risk to the general public remains low but anyone with concerns should contact their GP or NHS 24's dedicated hotline on 0800 0858 531.

"I want to continue to stress that this bacteria is not passed on person to person or by drinking water."

In a separate development, the Health and Safety Executive has confirmed it has served an improvement notice on North British Distillery , the company responsible for one of the cooling towers that is being investigated.

The Health and Safety Executive and Edinburgh City Council are continuing their investigations into the possible source of the outbreak.