GROVE CITY – Health officials now say 13 people have now been diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease amid an outbreak at Mount Carmel Grove City hospital.
UPDATE: 6/5/19 4:33 p.m.
Franklin County’s health department said Tuesday that’s up from seven. One of those patients died Sunday.
The health department says the patients are seven women and six men, ranging in age from 50 to 90 years old and were diagnosed between April 27 and May 31.
Mount Carmel Health System says the hospital is working with health officials to identify the source of the bacteria at the seven-story, 200-bed facility, which opened in April.
People are infected with the severe form of pneumonia by inhaling airborne water droplets containing the Legionella bacterium.
The Mount Carmel system has been under scrutiny after discovering that a doctor had prescribed excessive doses of painkillers to patients who died at its other hospitals.