Investigation of Legionnaires’ at Cumberland prison ongoing

Aug. 11—CUMBERLAND — Investigation of the source of a single Legionnaires’ disease case at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland is ongoing, Scott Taylor, Office of Public Affairs, Federal Bureau of Prisons, said Thursday.

No additional cases of Legionnaires’ have been identified at the prison, nor have there been any deaths, he said via email.

“Every FBOP facility including FCI Cumberland has contingency plans to address a large range of concerns or incidents, including communicable diseases, and is fully equipped and prepared to implement these plans as necessary,” Taylor said.

While the FBOP’s contingency plans “are sensitive in nature” and unavailable to the public, the bureau takes communicable diseases seriously, he said.

“Infectious diseases are managed through a comprehensive approach that includes testing, treatment, prevention, education, and infection control measures in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” guidelines, Taylor said.

One of FBOP’s highest priorities is the safety of its employees and “adults in custody,” he said.

Sampled waterThe prison receives its water from the City of Cumberland, which sampled water at the FCI facility for chlorine residuals and coliform bacteria, said Cumberland Director of Engineering and Utilities Robert Smith.

“The chlorine test provides an immediate result which was within normal range, which would be the first indicator of an issue within the distribution system,” Smith said via email Thursday. “The bacteriological test requires a 24-hour hold period before the results can be determined. The results for these samples were also negative.”

However, the bacteriological test methods only test for presence or absence of total coliform bacteria and E. coli, he said.

“But presence of these bacteria would be an early indicator of a problem,” Smith said.

“In regards to the current situation, we were an additional resource called upon by FCI, in order to verify that the water supplied to the facility met safe drinking water standards,” he said.

“At this time, the city has not received reports of legionella in the community, outside of the FCI Cumberland facility,” Smith said.

“Based on the available data, we do not believe there are any other areas at risk,” he said.

“The city is not actively investigating the issue and have placed a call to FCI Cumberland to offer our help in any way we can,” Smith said.

The Public Works Department maintains the water mains in the city’s system, he said.

The Engineering and Utilities Department oversees operations at the water filtration plant and processes the city’s source water for the distribution system, he said.

“The city tests the source water at the filter plant and within the distribution system on a daily basis for chlorine and perform bacteriological sampling on a weekly basis,” Smith said. “The last bacteriological sampling occurred on (Aug. 8) and the results were negative. We will continue to test the source water at the plant and in the distribution system per our standard operating procedures until we receive new information.”

Legionnaires’ diseaseJoseph E. McDade, a 1958 graduate of LaSalle High School, was a CDC microbiologist who isolated a bacterium he named Legionella pneumophila.

His discovery followed a 1976 respiratory illness that developed at an American Legion convention in Philadelphia, which left 29 Legionnaires dead, and 182 sick.

Since that time, agencies around the world have more stringent hygiene standards for large-scale air-conditioning systems, according to the CDC.

Local historian Al Feldstein was on a committee that produced a video about Allegany County graduates, “Locally Grown, Nationally Known,” which featured McDade in an episode.

The video is posted at acpsmd.org/Page/3548.

“Back in about 2017 the Allegany County Board of Education came up with a project to highlight county school graduates who made a national impact,” Feldstein said via email Thursday.

The committee secured almost 100 names and made about six videos over a two-year period for use in local schools and online, he said.

The group felt McDade’s work was significant, Feldstein said.

“We were also looking for people who…were relatively unknown and had made their mark in medicine, the sciences and stuff like that,” he said.

Teresa McMinn is a reporter for the Cumberland Times-News. She can be reached at 304-639-2371 or tmcminn@times-news.com.