Hospitals of Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Sverdlovsk Region, are currently taking care of 38 people diagnosed with pneumonia; three of the patients turned out not to have been infected with legionella, the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region Ministry of Healthcare Konstantin Shestakov said to UrBC.

‘People might be getting ill for as long as mid-August, since the incubation period for the infection lasts between 5 and 19 days. The city dwellers might have got it a few weeks ago and fall ill only now,’ he added.

This outbreak of legionellosis is reported to have been caused by the water remaining in the water conduits for four extra days, which gave legionella (a bacterium normally present in any natural reservoir) enough time to penetrate the city’s hot water supply system. So far, four patients have passed away.