Playboy Mansion outbreak: Bacteria traced to whirlpool spa

[tetano]

Health officials identified legionella bacteria in a whirlpool spa at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles during an investigation in February that began when people were sickened after attending a fundraiser.

A number of people came down with a respiratory illness after DomainFest's Feb. 1-3 conference, which culminated in a fundraiser at the Playboy Mansion in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles. Officials investigated to see if legionellosis was at fault; the more severe version of that illness is known as Legionnaires' disease, while a milder version is called Pontiac fever.

Out of 439 people contacted by L.A. County public health officials, 123 fell sick with fever and at least one other symptom, such as headache, cough, shortness of breath, or aches. Sixty-nine people got sick on the same day, Feb. 5.
The investigation involved an unusual tactic: the use of social media. Health investigators used blogs, Twitter and Facebook and had an online survey sent to all 715 conference attendees, who had traveled from 30 countries, to determine the extent of the outbreak. Seventy-nine people said through social media that they were ill.
Although several attendees indicated that they were diagnosed with legionellosis, county health officials were unable to verify the diagnosis through laboratory analysis. Three attendees, however, did test positive for the H1N1 flu.



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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lan...utbreak-bacteria-traced-to-whirlpool-spa.html

 

[Missouriwatcher]

Re: Playboy Mansion outbreak: Bacteria traced to whirlpool spa

This was peak week of influenza in US. The article goes on to say the LA County Health Dept investigation is continuing: "Other potential causes under investigation include influenza..."

 

[tetano]

Re: Playboy Mansion outbreak: Bacteria traced to whirlpool spa

ealth officials say H1N1 infected DOMAINfest attendees and evaluates role of social media in responding to outbreak.

We go to domain conferences. Health officials go to Centers for Disease Control conferences.

You can imagine these events as rather dull. But last week officials from Los Angeles got to spice things up a bit as they discussed the illness outbreak after the DOMAINfest conference in February at the Playboy Mansion. They managed to throw in another buzz word: social media.

Their conclusions:

-the hot tub at the mansion was the source of legionella bacteria at the conference
-social media helped to get the word out and track the illness
-3 people tested positive for H1N1
-The relative risk for illness for people who attended the party was 3.8x of not attending the party
-they could not confirm a single case of legionellosis among attendees

Their presentation to fellow health officials was titled ?Role of Social Media in Investigating an Outbreak: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.?

The health officials said they used blogs, twitter, Facebook, and an online survey to assess symptoms and figure out the timing.

439 people responded to the official survey and 123 met the ?case definition? for the illness.

Although online tools helped, the health officials noted that they may have also caused ?recall? amongst attendees. I believe this means it may have induced people to think they were sick or had certain symptoms even though they didn?t.

http://domainnamewire.com/2011/04/1...y-mansion-h1n1-credit-blogs-and-social-media/