Edinburgh Legionnaires’ outbreak declared over

An outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in which three people died has been declared over by health officials.

• So far there have been 101 confirmed and suspected cases

• Nicola Sturgeon: Good news, but some patients still remain very ill

• Officials believe they may never be able to pinpoint the source conclusively

• Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) jointly investigating the deaths

The move follows a review by the incident management team, chaired by NHS Lothian.

The outbreak in Edinburgh, which came to light at the end of May, is thought to have centred on a cluster of cooling towers in the south west of the city.

To date, the total number of confirmed and suspected cases is 101.

It appears that the action taken at the start of the outbreak was effective, health chiefs said.

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish Health Secretary, said it is good news that the outbreak has been declared over, although some patients still remain very ill.

Dr Alison McCallum, director of public health and health policy at NHS Lothian, said: “As we have seen over the last week, we can expect further cases who have been ill for some time to continue to come forward, and our increased surveillance will continue.

“However, all the evidence is suggesting that the action taken when the outbreak was first identified was effective and all cases fall within the expected incubation period. So the decision has been made to declare the outbreak over.”