Inmate at Pa. state prison hospitalized with Legionnaires’ disease

An inmate at a Pennsylvania state prison near State College has tested positive for Legionnaires’ disease, the state Department of Corrections confirmed on Wednesday.

Legionnaires’ disease is a type of pneumonia, and is not spread person-to-person, but instead contracted by breathing in small droplets of water containing Legionella bacteria.

As a result, showers and water fountains have been shut off in the affected unit at the State Correctional Institution at Rockview, and inmates are being provided bottled water while testing continues, said Maria A. Bivens, press secretary for the Department of Corrections.

The one inmate who tested positive for Legionnaires’ disease was taken to a hospital on Saturday, and is recovering, Bivens said.

Water systems are tested regularly at state prison, Bivens said, and the most recent tests did not show presence of the Legionella bacteria at Rockview.

Health officials are working with the prison to make sure proper protocol is followed, Bivens said.

“Out of an abundance of caution, the showers and the water fountains on the affected unit will be offline until additional testing is complete. We are providing bottled water until the water fountains are confirmed to be safe,” Bivens said.

Inmates in the affected “C Unit” were notified of the situation in a memorandum from Superintendent Bobbi Jo Salamon dated Tuesday.

As of the end of March, there were 1,962 people incarcerated and 715 full-time employees at Rockview, according to state records.

Philadelphia is notoriously linked to Legionnaires’ disease. In 1976, attendees of an American Legion convention were stricken and 34 people died.

Last summer, an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease at a nursing home in New York City killed five people, authorities confirmed last month.

In December, Camden County and New Jersey health authorities reported a cluster of Legionnaires’ disease in four Pennsauken residents.