Two more die from Legionnaire's at Quincy vets home

QUINCY — The Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs says that two more veterans’ home residents have died from Legionnaires’ disease. That increases the number of recent deaths from the water-borne illness in Quincy to 12.

Eleven of those who have died from Legionnaires since August in the Mississippi River city lived at the Illinois Veterans’ Home. The bacteria have sickened another 45 people there, including five workers, in addition to the eleven who died at the home.

Separately, public health officials say four other cases of Legionnaires’ disease in Quincy, including the additional fatality, are not connected to the larger outbreak.

All of the elderly residents who died had underlying health conditions that made them more susceptible to the severe form of pneumonia. The source of the outbreak remains unknown as environmental tests continue.