Nearly a month after her death, health authorities are confirming that a Decatur woman who attended a conference at the Sheraton Atlanta succumbed to heart disease aggravated by a bacteria possibly picked up at the hotel, according to an article on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution website.
The Courtland Street hotel shut down voluntarily last month while investigators began looking for the source of a Legionnaires’ outbreak that, according to the state department of public health, now totals 12 confirmed cases and 61 probable cases.
The probable cases have not been confirmed in a lab, but they include people with illnesses consistent with Legionnaires’ disease, such as pneumonia.
Air conditioning units are prime breeding grounds for the bacteria, which can multiply in water fountains and ice-making machines, as well.
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