Bridgeport Principal (who lives in West Walk) dies of Legionaires' Disease; second resident contracts it.

The New Haven Register today reported that Bridgeport elementary school Principal Howard Reed died Monday night at Yale New Haven Hospital of Legionaires' Disease, and that a second resident has contracted the disease. The CDC has been asked in to help Public Health Commissioner J. Robert Galvin and West Haven Health Director Eric Triffin investigate.

Legionaires' Disease is caused by a common bacteria, which grows in warm water, such as plumbing systems or hot tubs, and isn't spread person to person. The state on average sees 15-35 cases per year, and there are probably more cases that go unreported, as symptoms are similar to the flu, and often go away on their own.

Apparently, because of this, the state wouldn't test West Walk or the Bridgeport Elementary school water systems unless a second case had appeared. However, now they feel two cases in West Haven diagnosed in one week is unusual.

Howard Reed lived in West Walk; the latest case, an unemployed middle-aged man who has been hospitalized, lives on First Avenue.

My thought -- have they both been fishing down recently? Perhaps on the sandy shoal by our Sewage plant?