Legionnaire’s Bacteria at GSK Plant

[membership level=”0,4″][The content continues for paid members only.] Login or Subscribe [/membership][membership level=”1,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12″][membership] In early August, routine testing of water in a cooling tower at a GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) plant near Raleigh, North Carolina, revealed the presence of Legionella pneumophila – or Legionnaire’s bacteria – which can cause a fatal form of pneumonia. As a precaution, the plant was closed and nearly half of the 850 employees at the plant were asked to stay home until the cooling tower cleanup could be completed. The plant produces inhalation medicines, including Glaxo’s asthma product Advair, as well as other drugs for other pharma companies. The plant reopened six days later. Glaxo officials emphasized that there is no evi-dence that the bacteria infiltrated any medications and that the material in the cooling tower “does not come into contact with product manufactured at the facility.” An outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease in the Bronx section of New York City this summer that sickened more than 120 people and killed 12 was traced to a cooling tower at the Opera House Hotel, New York’s Channel 4 News reported in late August.
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