Dr. Yves Leger, the regional officer of health in the Moncton area. (Staff photo)
Seven cases of legionnaires disease have now been confirmed in Moncton after another case was reported on Thursday.
Public Health officials are investigating and are concentrating their efforts in the west end of Moncton.
Department of Health spokesperson Bruce Macfarlane says sampling from cooling towers has been ongoing in that area for a couple of days.
Eleven sites will be tested and the preliminary results are expected on Monday.
Regional medical health officer Dr. Yves Leger will be providing an update at that time.
Health minister Dorothy Shephard is reviewing the report and will also make comments next week.
During an outbreak in Moncton two years ago, Public Health traced the source of Legionnaires disease to the cooling tower of an air conditioning system in a west end building.
At that time, Dr. Leger said there were a total of 16 confirmed cases and individuals ranging in age from their mid-30’s to their mid-90’s with an average age of 60.
He adds that almost all were hospitalized and a few did require intensive care unit support but there were no deaths.
