New legionella test results from county buildings show at least one has signs of the bacteria. But county officials note it is two fewer than the previous round of tests.<\/p>\n
Results from 23 samples collected Jan. 13 and 14 at the county\u2019s circuit courthouse, 1200 N. Telegraph Road in Pontiac, found traces of legionella in a men\u2019s room in the clerk\u2019s vital records office.<\/p>\n
Legionella is a bacteria found in the ground and in some water systems. The bacteria can cause a type of pneumonia called Legionnaire\u2019s disease or a less-severe lung infection called Pontiac fever. County health officials have emphasized that such infections are rare.<\/p>\n
The county has been testing water systems since November after a custodian\u2019s Legionnaire\u2019s disease was traced to the sheriff\u2019s administration building on the county\u2019s Pontiac campus.<\/p>\n
In April 2025 a man diagnosed with Legionnaire\u2019s listed the county\u2019s circuit courthouse among the places he visited. That man later died, according to Lisa Brown, county clerk and register of deeds. The man has not been identified by name; the county custodian\u2019s condition has not been shared with the media.<\/p>\n
In addition to follow-up testing, the county is following what county spokesman William Mullan called \u201crigorous preventive measures,\u201d including regular flushing, water temperature monitoring and temperature adjustments.<\/p>\n
The county installed 300 filters and reinstalled three that malfunctioned, he said. Earlier this month, Brown told the county commission\u2019s health and safety committee that at least one of the malfunctioning filters sprayed a man using a sink.<\/p>\n
County tests will continue through May in areas where legionella was initially detected.<\/p>\n
Last week the county started its routine-testing program to meet standards set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These tests are at buildings where legionella has not been detected.<\/p>\n
Routine tests in the east and west wings of the courthouse and the medical examiner\u2019s office on the county\u2019s Pontiac campus showed no signs of legionella in the Jan. 23 results. Twelve samples were collected in the courthouse and five were collected in the medical examiner\u2019s office. Buildings with clean-water results do not have to be immediately retested, under CDC guidelines.<\/p>\n
Routine tests at the county jail will start Tuesday, Jan. 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New legionella test results from county buildings show at least one has signs of the bacteria. But county…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[47285,47284,143,904,11623,145,144,59014],"class_list":{"0":"post-150322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-legionella","9":"tag-legionnaires-disease","10":"tag-oakland","11":"tag-oakland-county","12":"tag-oakland-county-health","13":"tag-oakland-headlines","14":"tag-oakland-news","15":"tag-pontiac-fever"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}