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Officials close Davis Event Center after another death from Legionnaires' disease


WNC Ag Center General Manager Matt Buchanan said they are closing the Davis Event Center until the air conditioning system is checked by an industrial hygienist. (Photo credit: WLOS staff)
WNC Ag Center General Manager Matt Buchanan said they are closing the Davis Event Center until the air conditioning system is checked by an industrial hygienist. (Photo credit: WLOS staff)
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WNC Ag Center staff is leaving no stone unturned after another case of Legionnaires' disease in the mountains.

Public health officials said a person who did not attend the Mountain State Fair contracted the disease. That person did, however, attend the quilt show held at the Ag Center just two weeks after the fair.

Because of the news, WNC Ag Center General Manager Matt Buchanan said they are closing the Davis Event Center until the air conditioning system is checked by an industrial hygienist.

“We have decided to close the building again since we have the report of the lady that contracted Legionnaires' at the quilt show, they say,” Buchanan said.

There have been more than 140 cases and four deaths related to a Legionnaires' outbreak tied to the fair.

“We had the building the treated through the hot water lines,” Buchanan said. “We ran 140-degree water through them for 30 minutes.”

They have since been given a clean bill of health. But after the new case was reported, officials made the decision to close the Davis Event Center.

“They have looked at it before, the CDC did, and saw nothing wrong with it. But we're going to actually run some really hard tests on it, to make sure there is no evidence at all there,” Buchanan said.

“It's very unusual for people to have an outbreak like we've seen,” said Dr. Bruce Israel, chair of the Infection Prevention Committee at Mission Health.

Israel said the Legionella bacteria is typically found in water.

“If it grows up too much of a concentration and then that gets aerosolized, then suddenly you may have a person who gets too close that source, and that's where a person would get it,” Israel said.

Israel said it’s highly unlikely for someone to catch Legionella through any other interaction.

Since Buchanan said they don’t have any aerosolized water in the Davis Center, they are stumped.

“We really don't understand it, and we're just trying to look at every piece of evidence that we can uncover,” said Buchanan.

Next weekend is the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair at the Ag Center. They planned to use the Davis Event Center but will be moving to a different building.

Buchanan hopes to have the results of the air system tests next week.

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