Edinburgh Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak: Firm blasts test knockback

A SCOTTISH firm that claims to make the world’s fastest test for legionella says its offer to help health chiefs during the current outbreak has been ignored.

The test, by Linlithgow-based firm Albagaia, detects legionella bacteria in only 25 minutes.

But health chiefs insisted yesterday that the test was not sufficient to identify the bug adequately in the outbreak.

The race to identify the source is focusing on 16 water cooling towers in the south-west of the capital which may have emitted a contaminated cloud. They are based on four sites run by the North British Distillery, pharmaceutical firm MacFarlan Smith, Aegon Insurance and Burton’s Foods.

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon yesterday said it could be several days before the source was known and the extent of the outbreak became clear.

Albagaia’s chief executive, Graham Tyrie, told The Scotsman yesterday that he contacted Edinburgh city council, who refused his offer of supplying the testing kits.

Mr Tyrie said: “We have offered test kits to the council. They are evaluating the offer, but suggest it might take a few days before they are in a position to take up the offer. It seems red tape has got in the way, which is very frustrating as our tests are so fast-acting we could have many more answers now than we do have.

“It seems daft we are here, just miles from Edinburgh, with this test which is not being used. I am confident this test would be able to determine if there is legionella in the suspected sources and if patients showing symptoms have the illness.”

Mr Tyrie added: “It is a very simple test. When it comes to either the routine management of water systems or the investigation of outbreak sources they key is to get reliable information quickly.

“Legionella testing is notoriously slow and depends on bacteria being alive and ready to grow when they reach the laboratory. Our product overcomes that and provides a fast indication of the risk.

“We can test for legionella bacteria in some 25 minutes at the scene of an outbreak, compared with waiting up to two weeks for tests carried out in a laboratory.”

But Dr Martin McCormick, of NHS Lothian, played down the firm’s claims yesterday, insisting that testing for the bacteria was “not a straightforward process”.

He said: “There are many ways it can be done and the rapid test is only part of the process.

“The liquid has to be boiled, it has to be filtered and processed in other ways. So in the 25 minutes, it’s not possible to get a result that’s going to be meaningful for this investigation.”

The test being offered by Sero Group tests for one strain of the disease, the most common kind to infect people.

Albagaia is an environmental technology company specialising in the photocatalytic destruction of harmful organic materials.

The incubation period of Legionnaires’ disease is between two and 14 days, but the average is five or six days, so authorities are expecting more cases over the next few days.

But Dr McCormick added: “If our evidence and reaction have been correct, we hope to have removed the source through our shock treatment of these cooling towers.

“We’d hope that by the weekend – five or six days after the treatment – we’ll start to see a decline in cases.”

The 16 towers were identified as a potential source of the outbreak following the first reported case on Thursday last week. They were chemically treated on Sunday night and Monday morning.

A spokesman from Aegon – where towers are used to cool servers, in Lochside Crescent, South Gyle – said samples were taken from some of its three towers on Monday.

But he added; “We have rigorous safety processes and procedures that we carry out over and above what’s required by the regulations.”

McFarlan Smith is based on Wheatfield Road, Gorgie, and a spokeswoman said it already “chemically doses” the towers to minimise the risk of legionella, and this was managed by an external firm, while its own environmental safety department checked the dosing.

Additional treatment has been added after the outbreak on the request of authorities.

Burton’s, in Bankhead Road, and the North British Distillery, in Wheatfield Road, both confirmed that samples have been taken and they are assisting the Health and Safety Executive to identify the source.

The Scottish Government is to issue information leaflets in the affected areas, but locals hit out at the lack of action from the authorities.

Remi Ogunjobi, of African Crest in Gorgie Road, which is across the road from one of the suspected sites, said she thought the situation was “very scary”.

She added: “I just heard it on the news right now and thought that is where my shop is. I think it is disgraceful that they haven’t taken it more seriously.

“What advice are they giving? Are they saying people should go home?

“The health people should have taken it more seriously and come here to tell people what was going on.”

The fear about Legionnaires’ disease was also causing concern in the east of Edinburgh, where the man who died, Robert Air, was brought up.

One woman who lived near his family home said: “I’m very worried. My daughter works at a solicitor’s office in Gorgie and I am worried she might be in danger.”