Three more ill in Legionnaire's outbreak

• Tweet

CARDIFF, Wales, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Three more people have fallen ill in Wales in an outbreak of Legionnaire's disease as officials search for the source of the outbreak, authorities said.

Health officials have closed a water cooling tower in Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales as the outbreak toll stands at two dead and 17 people sick, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.

The closure is part on an investigation that has covered more than 100 business premises in Merthyr Tydfil, Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney.

"Information has been gathered on the people with the disease to identify where they have been at times when they may have caught the infection," said a spokesman for Public Health Wales.

The water cooling tower closure was issued for a company's towers "not being operated in accordance with the Approved Code of Practice," the spokesman said.

"This site is not confirmed as the source of the outbreak," the spokesman said.

The Health and Safety Executive has inspected all cooling towers and condensers in the area to determine if the systems have the potential to cause the spread of the bacteria that causes the disease Legionella.