Legionnaires' disease outbreak in England – update

The outbreak of legionnaires’ disease in north west England has resulted in two more deaths since 7 August, bringing the total number of deaths in this outbreak to three (1). At 2 pm on 15 August 2002 the outbreak control team was aware of 116 confirmed cases of legionnaires’ disease that fit the standard case definition. At present the observed case-fatality rate of 2.7% is considerably lower than the rate observed in previous outbreaks in the United Kingdom.