U.S. Water News Online
LINCOLN, Ill. -- Health officials say an elderly Indiana woman died and dozens others got sick after swimming in a contaminated hotel swimming pool in this central Illinois town.
The 90-year-old woman's daughter said she died of complications from Legionnaire's disease, said Marjorie Harris, assistant administrator of the Logan County Health Department. The woman's name was not released.
The woman, who stayed at the Lincoln Inn in last month, was one of three people who have tested positive for Legionnaire's disease -- a type of pneumonia -- after swimming in the hotel's pool, county health department administrator Mark Hilliard said.
Hilliard said samples taken from the pool March 7 showed there was no chlorine in the water. It has been closed as state and local health regulators investigate.
Harris said about 150 of the 500 guests interviewed by health officials have reported experiencing respiratory illness since using the pool.
A man who answered the phone at the hotel and identified himself as the hotel manager said he could not immediately comment.
Illinois sees 25 to 50 cases of Legionnaire's disease a year, said Melanie Arnold of the Illinois Department of Public Health.
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