DETROIT (AP) – A water crisis in Flint has focused mostly on the impact of drinking supplies containing lead that had leached from old plumbing after the city switched sources to save money. But Michigan officials stunned the community this week when they also reported an increase in Legionnaires’ disease cases over the past two years in Genesee County, where Flint is located.
There were at least 87 confirmed Legionnaires’ cases, including 10 deaths, from June 2014 to November 2015, compared to only 21 cases in 2012 and 2013. Michigan health officials said they can’t conclude that the increase was related to Flint’s water, although concerned residents blitzed the county health department with phone calls Thursday.
Flint pulled water from the Flint River for 18 months until last fall but didn’t use treatments that could have reduced corrosion and possibly removed other contaminants. Local officials declared a public health emergency in October in response to elevated levels of lead in children. Lead can cause behavior problems and learning disabilities in children as well as kidney ailments in adults.
Some questions and answers on Flint’s water crisis and Legionnaires’ disease:
WHAT IS LEGIONNAIRES’ DISEASE?