Legionnaire's disease claims another life in Spain

The death toll from an outbreak of Legionnaire's disease in a Spanish resort town on the Mediterranean rose to two this afternoon…

The death toll from an outbreak of Legionnaire's disease in a Spanish resort town on the Mediterranean rose to two this afternoon.

A 49-year-old diabetic man died in hospital in Mataro, northeast of Barcelona, after an 83-year-old woman had succumbed to the disease on Monday.

Officials say 63 people have been affected by the outbreak in Mataro, which has been blamed on an air conditioner in an unidentified public building.

The potentially fatal illness which causes fever, lung congestion and pneumonia is commonly spread through contaminated air conditioners and ventilators. It is treated with antibiotics.

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Near the port city of Valencia, south of Barcelona, 13 other people have also come down with Legionnaire's disease in two small towns, and nine were hospitalised.

Britain is currently fighting its worst instance of the disease in a decade, with three dead and more than 120 confirmed cases in a town in northwest England.

AFP