Gwent | Archive | 2002 | September | 4
From the South Wales Argus, first published Wednesday 4th Sep 2002.
DAVID Allen, the Gwent victim of legionnaires' disease, could return home today after more than three weeks in hospital.
But the 50-year-old father of four and grandfather faces a battle back to full health.
"He's still very weak," said his partner, Julie Horner, at their home in Cross Keys.
"It's going to be a long haul. It's going to be a few weeks before he's on his feet. They don't know if his lungs have been permanently damaged."
Mr Allen, who was originally diagnosed with flu, spent two days in intensive care before being moved to the high dependency unit. He has been on a ward since last Friday.
"One minute he was all right and the next minute he was at death's door," said Miss Horner.
She said he had received good treatment at the Royal Gwent Hospital and thanked all her friends for the support she had received, especially Howard and Jenny Bloodworth and Beryl Rogers.
"Everybody around here is concerned about him - it's a small community. Even strangers have been asking me how he is."
Gwent health officials are investigating how Mr Allen contracted the disease.
His job for water treatment company Ondeo Nalco included cleaning cooling towers. The firm says he had been working in South Wales.
The firm is now working with the local environmental health officer and the Health and Safety Executive.
Caerphilly council is investigating his illness and it is being treated as an isolated case. UK director Sean Hayward said: "Currently, there is no evidence to show that he picked up the disease while working with us. Ondeo Nalco has strict safety measures for the few employees who may come in contact with Legionella."
* Roger Thompson, director of Whirlpool Express UK, in Newport, says that domestic whirlpool baths and showers carry no risk of legionnaires' disease.
He said worried customers had been contacting the company since reading about sources of the illness.
"There have been no cases in a domestic household situation," said Mr Thompson.
Mr Thompson says the conditions favoured by the Legionella bacteria are not found in domestic water systems.
Experts say the major source of infection is water distribution systems of large public buildings.
© Newsquest Media Group 2008