For the second time in less than two months, LA Fitness facilities in the Orlando, FL, area are at the center of a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak investigation after four members at two clubs were confirmed to have contracted the disease. Three cases are connected to the club at 4792 Kirkman Road; the other is linked to the club at 12700 S. Orange Blossom Trail.
It has yet to be determined if the infected individuals contracted the disease at the facilities. Health investigators were sent to both locations Friday for testing and found conditions favorable for the Legionella bacteria. Test results will be available in late June.
In April, three members at the LA Fitness club in Ocoee, a suburb of Orlando, contracted Legionnaires’ disease, but tests for Legionella at that facility were negative, according to Kent Donahue, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health in Orange County,
A person catches Legionnaires’ disease – a serious type of pneumonia caused by the Legionella bacteria – by inhaling microscopic water droplets in the form of mist or vapor. The Legionella bacteria are found primarily in human-made, warm-water environments.
The outbreak is the third experienced by an LA Fitness facility in the past seven months. In December 2016, two members of a facility in Long Island, NY, were infected with Legionnaires’ disease, and officials shut down the pool, pool area, and spa after water samples tested positive for the Legionella bacteria. One of the infected members filed a $2.5 million lawsuit against the club in March.