I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The state Environment Department closed the spa and pool at Socorro Mayor Ravi Bhasker’s Best Western hotel last month after learning that at least two former guests had fallen ill with Legionnaire’s disease, state officials told The Independent Thursday evening.
The pool was still closed, a hotel employee said Thursday.
The state Health Department lab confirmed last month that water collected from the hotel contained Legionella , the bacteria that causes the Legionnaire’s Disease, spokeswoman Deborah Busemeyer told The Independent.
“We did have a couple of people from South Carolina diagnosed with Legionnaire’s Disease and the likely exposure was the hotel,” Busemeyer said.
Asked to confirm that a third guest, from California, had also fallen ill, Busemeyer said: “I believe so, but I don’t have details on that.”
“The State of California did not get in touch with us so it’s unclear whether that case was real,” Environment Department spokeswoman Marissa Stone Bardino told The Independent.
But at most, three guests of the hotel contracted the disease, Busemeyer said.
Contacted Thursday evening, Busemeyer could not remember when the guests had been at the hotel or when the outbreak was first discovered, she said. It was “a month ago, maybe longer,” she said.
Legonnaire’s is an often-lethal pneumonia infecting between 8,000 and 18,000 Americans each year. It is caused by the Legionella bacteria, which can be carried in water vapor. The disease kills up to 30 percent of victims, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website.
No press releases or health advisories were announced, Busemeyer and Stone Bardino both acknowledged Thursday.
“We were doing the contacts investigation, so we had a list of folks to contact” who had potentially been exposed, Busemeyer said. “We were working with other states to determine if others had fallen ill. So it wasn’t something we needed to tell the public about.”
Bhasker has hired a consultant to confirm that the hotel is not still contaminated, Stone Bardino said.
“The owner of the hotel hired a contractor to look into the Legionella bacteria, and is waiting for (results),” Stone Bardino said.
A hotel employee reached by phone Thursday said she had been told the pool was closed for routine maintenance.
Bhasker and Environment Department pools program director Raj Soloman could not be reached Thursday evening for comment.
The Independent has filed public records requests with the health and environment departments for documents related to the case.
