2 more Legionnaires’ disease cases found at veterans home

QUINCY, Ill. — Officials say there are two more laboratory-confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease among residents of a veterans’ home in western Illinois.

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced Monday night that its engineering staff has removed faucets from the residents’ rooms at the Illinois Veterans’ Home in Quincy, collected water samples and taken other steps to ensure safe water.

The department says the two residents with the respiratory illness are doing well. The disease is caused by bacteria in water vapor that’s inhaled.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration has faced scrutiny for its handling of a 2015 outbreak at Quincy of Legionnaires’ disease, which returned in 2016 and 2017. It’s contributed to the deaths of 13 residents — 12 in 2015 and one last fall — and sickened dozens more.