{"id":304929,"date":"2026-05-07T21:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T21:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/304929\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T21:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T21:57:08","slug":"18-cases-of-legionella-water-borne-bacteria-found-at-kaiser-santa-clara-hospital-the-press-democrat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/304929\/","title":{"rendered":"18 cases of legionella, water-borne bacteria, found at Kaiser Santa Clara hospital \u2013 The Press Democrat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Santa Clara County Public Health is investigating an outbreak of legionella at Kaiser Permanente\u2019s<\/a> Santa Clara Medical Center, where at least 18 people were infected with the bacteria that spreads in water systems.<\/p>\n

Most people exposed to legionella don\u2019t get sick, and risk to the broader South Bay community is \u201clow,\u201d a spokesperson for the Santa Clara County Public Health Department said in an email.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Legionnaires\u2019 disease: What to know after outbreak in Santa Clara<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cPublic Health is working with the facility to ensure anyone with symptoms is appropriately treated and that the facility is taking necessary steps to prevent people from getting sick,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Kaiser said the Oakland-based healthcare giant has not located the source of the bacteria. It grows and spreads in showerheads, sink faucets and \u201clarge, complex plumbing systems,\u201d according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People typically get exposed when they inhale water droplets containing legionella.<\/p>\n

Kaiser officials have not said if the exposed people were staff, patients or visitors to the medical center. It is operating as usual, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we work to determine the source, out of an abundance of caution, on Monday we concluded additional water treatment measures and preventive measures to ensure the safety of all patients, employees, and visitors,\u201d the spokesperson said in an email. \u201cAs a result of mitigation efforts, our hospital and medical office building continue to operate normally and continue to care safely for patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although most people exposed do not get sick, the bacteria cause Legionnaires\u2019 Disease, a serious type of pneumonia. Symptoms include shortness of breath, chest pain and aching muscles. Older people and people with weak immune systems are more at risk<\/a> of developing Legionnaires\u2019 Disease, the CDC said.<\/p>\n

The fatality rate of Legionnaires\u2019 Disease is 10%, according to the CDC.<\/a> That rises to 25% in cases at healthcare facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost healthy people exposed to legionella don\u2019t get sick,\u201d the county Health Department spokesperson said. \u201cLegionnaires\u2019 disease is treated with antibiotics and most people who get sick make a full recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CDC recommends that hospitals keep protocols for preventing and responding to legionella outbreaks. The Kaiser spokesperson said the health provider had complied with \u201call regulatory standards.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Santa Clara County Public Health is investigating an outbreak of legionella at Kaiser Permanente\u2019s Santa Clara Medical Center,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[30900,128469,81,128464,128470,128466,128465,47284,88,90,89,128467,128468],"class_list":["post-304929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-bacteria","tag-hospital-acquired-infections","tag-kaiser-permanente","tag-kaiser-santa-clara","tag-kaiser-santa-clara-legionella-cases","tag-kaiser-santa-clara-medical-center","tag-legionella-outbreak","tag-legionnaires-disease","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-santa-clara-county-public-health","tag-water-borne-bacteria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304929","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=304929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}