Legionnaires' sickens 2 at Albert Lea nursing home

The Minnesota Health Department is probing two cases of Legionnaires' disease found in residents of a senior care and living facility in Albert Lea.

The first resident's symptoms began in early June; the second's symptoms were reported to the Health Department Thursday, the agency said in a statement Friday. Both residents were hospitalized. The facility, St. John's Fountain Lake, provides assisted living, skilled nursing and memory care.

The department said it's working with St. John's Fountain Lake to identify possible sources and recommending protective measures to minimize the chance other seniors are exposed to any Legionella bacteria.

Legionnaires' disease is contracted by inhaling water mist contaminated with the bacteria. A 2016 outbreak in Hopkins sickened 23 people. One person died. All lived or worked in Hopkins, or visited the city during the 10 days before they became ill.

Investigators traced the source of the illness to a beverage processing plant in Hopkins.

In 1995, a Legionnaires' cluster in Luverne climbed to 24 confirmed cases, the most ever in Minnesota. That same summer a separate outbreak in Mankato, Minn., sickened 17 people.

The disease, which takes its name from an outbreak during a 1976 state American Legion convention in Philadelphia, is a type of bacterial pneumonia that can be severe.

Symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, muscle aches, chills, shortness of breath, loss of appetite and coughing, the Health Department said, adding that most people exposed to the bacteria do not develop Legionnaires' disease.