I am well aware that potentially deadly legionnaires' disease can occur in cooling towers, in fact one I used t service once a month ended up with a low amount in it despite the tower being cleaned once a month and chemically treated.
It would seem it was picking up the bug from somewhere else as it was in there twice, despite the treatment. Finally I treated the water to get rid of any slime in the pipes and hit with a heap of chorine, although chorine was not recommended in a timber tower, but it fixed the problem.
However I was unaware of the possibility of legionnaires' disease being in a hot water system.
I would assume in this hospital they had the that water not very hot as they did no wish to scald patients.
I see it is recommend to have the hot water up to 60 c (140 f) to prohibit the legionnaires' disease from growing in a hot water system.
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A 46-year-old woman is in intensive care after becoming the second person at a Brisbane private hospital to contract the potentially deadly legionnaires' disease.
A 60-year-old man died from the disease on Sunday after contracting it at the Wesley Hospital, where he had been receiving cancer treatment.
The Legionella bacteria has since been found in the hot water system and bathrooms in the hospital's east wing, where the man was being treated.
Queensland Health Minister Lawrence Springborg says the second patient was in the hospital's west wing.
Hospital management says more than 200 other patients could have been exposed.
They say they are dealing with an extraordinary situation because the situation hardly ever occurs in water systems.