Two residents of The Manor at Whitehall, OH, tested positive for Legionella bacteria in July, according to officials at the Franklin County Public Health Department. The Manor is a short-term rehabilitation or extended-stay skilled nursing facility in a suburb of Columbus.

Additional medical testing is needed to determine whether the two men – both in their mid-60s and hospitalized with respiratory infections – have contracted full-blown Legionnaires’ disease. Results will not be known for at least a week.

An inspection of all plumbing, heating and cooling systems, along with all pipes and water systems, will attempt to identify whether the facility is the source of the bacteria.

Franklin County Public Health has planned town hall forums for today and tomorrow for residents and staff. For more information, contact the hotline at 614-525-3097.

In June, two inmates at Ohio’s prison hospital, the Franklin Medical Center in Columbus, were diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease. A cause of their illnesses has yet to be released.

In 2013, the largest Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Ohio history occurred when six people died and 39 others were sickened at the Wesley Ridge Retirement Community in Reynoldsburg, a suburb of Columbus. A cooling tower and potable water were the sources for that outbreak.