Officials fear Legionnaire's epidemic (Norway)

Aftenposten ^ | May 23, 2005 | tr. Nina Berglund

[franksolich]

Three people are dead and scores have been admitted to hospital in southern Norway after doctors confirmed an outbreak of Legionnaires' Disease over the weekend. At least 24 are confirmed to be infected, with many of them in critical condition.

Health authorities, meanwhile, remained unable on Monday to pinpoint the source of the disease. Cooling towers for air conditioning systems, where the bacteria is known to appear, were being checked and disinfected, especially in the Fredrikstad-Sarpsborg area.

That's where the first cases started being diagnosed late last week. Health officials in Fredrikstad, just north of the Swedish border, feared an epidemic like one that hit Stavanger four years ago.

Doctors and nurses at the central hospital serving the Fredrikstad-Sarpsborg region worked through the weekend to try to chart the movements of the three victims of the disease and the 24 who have been diagnosed with it. They admitted it was difficult work, because many of the patients were too sick to answer many questions.

Two patients died from the disease at Østfold Hospital on Sunday. It's now been determined that a third person who died from a lung ailment on May 19 also was infected with the Legionnaires' bacteria. All three came from Sarpsborg and Fredrikstad.

Four persons were listed in criticial condition and on life support systems on Monday. A total of 71 persons were admitted to hospital over the weekend with pneumonia-like systems and others were being tested. Results were expected later in the day.

Hospitals in Oslo were standing by to take in patients if necessary, while a team of experts was helping out from Stavanger, where Legionnaires' Disease killed seven persons in 2001. That outbreak was later traced to a hotel's air conditioning system.

[franksolich]

Is this the same sort of thing that happened in Philadelphia so many years ago?

[franksolich]

Ping for the Norway ping list.



Can anyone from Norway speculate as to what these Norwegians are protesting, in 1946?

Over the weekend, my account with "photobucket"--the source of all those pictures from Norway, and all those photographs of the flag of Norway--overran.

I had no idea how these image-hosting services work--this was a "first" for me, remember--but now I do. I sent $9 to "photobucket" on Saturday, so as to get their "premium service," so that when one looks at photographs I have posted on Free Republic, those little boxes with the red "x"s will be gone, and the images restored.

I had thought the warning e-mail meant "don't add any more images to your 'album'"--apparently it meant "too many people are looking at your images, using up wavelength."

Whatever. I know how it works now.

But anyway, if one has looked for any images I posted before--such as in the "tours of Norway," look again after June 1, as they will be right back there.

[ahayes]

Oops, I don't think that post worked out as you meant it to.

[ahayes]

Yes, that's where it got its name. It broke out at an American Legion convention.

Typically those most endangered are smokers and the elderly.

[rdb3]

Give it up. You're not going to generate any discussion regarding your antics. We've seen them all before.

[rdb3]

huh?? what the hell are you talking about ??

Okay. Play stupid if ya like.

Give it up. It ain't gonna work.

[68 grunt]

Wish I knew how someone could try and screw-up an innocent 'Norway' interest thread? What was he on about? Was he a dane?

[IdahoNative]

Can anyone from Norway speculate as to what these Norwegians are protesting, in 1946?

Kind of looks like they're saying "without soup (food) we drink - we're nothing - thanks" (really rough guess since Norwegian was my grandparents 'adult conversation' language and they wanted to keep their talks from little ears so they wouldn't even teach it to their children).

[franksolich]

I guess it has something to do with an anti-Sweden protest; something about how Sweden "helped" the occupied Norwegians during the war.

[nuconvert]

.

[Eurotwit]

Wohooooo!! Just finished my exams.

Pulled an allnighter for this one. Totally exhausted, but feeling great :-)

BTW: I watched a documentary on discovery the other night when I could not fall asleep. It was called "Secret Armys: The fight against Hitler" or something like that. It was about the Norwegian resistance during the war. The leader of milorg, the main guerilla organisation, stated a thought that I found quite interesting about Sweden. He said that however you want to judge morally the Swedish position it can be no doubt that Sweden's neutrality was the biggest blessing for them, as they could use it as a "cambodia"....When the heat got too much, they could slip across the border and regroup. So he concluded that Sweden's neutrality in practicality was a huge blessing for Norway during the war.

Oh.. I got no idea what those guys in the picture are on about... They look like Russ though...

Oh, and about this post... I actually live in Sarpsborg where the outbreak is... It's obviously a huge story here locally, but I have had my nose buried too deep into the books the really follow it. I just checked the Norwegian papers now, and a fourth person has died now. It seems to be people in their 70's. Kind of scary though...

Anyways, It's going to be good to be able to follow Freerepublic again... I hope the Norway ping list is getting back in shape as well. Perfect timing :-)

Now, what about Hasvik... :-)

Cheers.

[franksolich]

Congratulations on the examinations.

This issue about the "neutrality" of Sweden during the second world war is bothersome to most Americans simply because the Swedes (in Sweden; not descendants of Swedes who emigrated elsewhere) think of themselves as "morally superior" to the rest of us, who are always entangled in wars.

That Sweden has managed to be "neutral" is not an example of their "moral superiority;" it is simply an accident of geography.

With Norway covering their front, Finland their back, and Denmark their below, Sweden is insulated from conflicts.

If Sweden were in the Near East, or central Asia, or interior South America, I imagine they would be just as war-like as the rest of us. Their "neutrality" is not a virtue of character, but an accident of geography.

[mhking]

I see the nitwit has come back for more...

Just damn.

[franksolich]

Yeah, the DUmmies are angry today.

[rdb3]

Too bad for him that the image, which was huge, didn't show properly.

[mhking]

Yeah, but it still screwed with my Firefox...I'm back over in IE for now.

[Rodney King]

Looks like "Without food and drink, what are we?" Or something like that.