The number of people who have died from Legionnaires’ disease in Poland has risen to 16, with at least another 155 people hospitalised in the southeastern region close to the border with Ukraine, health authorities said Wednesday, August 30th. The disease broke out two weeks ago in the city of Rzeszów, with some neighbouring areas affected as well.
Authorities have yet to determine the cause of the outbreak but have been inspecting various sites in Rzeszów, primarily the water pipelines, where experts suppose the bacteria might be coming from. It is possible that the germs spread in high temperatures during the recent heat wave. More than 1,000 kilometres of pipelines were disinfected last weekend using chlorine.
Legionnaires’ disease is a serious lung infection caused by Legionella bacteria. It is not contagious and cannot be spread directly from person to person, but it can multiply in water and air-conditioning systems. The bacteria are transmitted by inhaling tiny droplets of infected water, not by drinking contaminated water. Older adults, smokers, and people with weakened immune systems are particularly vulnerable to the disease, which can be treated with a course of antibiotics. Most of the people who have died were elderly, and all had been suffering from other chronic illnesses.
As AP points out, the region of Rzeszów, some 80 kilometres from the Ukraine border, has become a key transit hub for international military support for Ukraine following Russia’s invasion last year. Some 10,000 U.S. troops are stationed in the area. Polish authorities are therefore investigating whether an act of sabotage could be one of the reasons behind the outbreak. “This is a factor that has made us [take steps] to eliminate some scenarios,” Stanisław Żaryn, deputy minister in charge of coordinating the special services, previously said, referring to “Russia’s attempts to sow panic among Ukraine’s allies.” However, he stressed that they have not yet identified any evidence pointing to sabotage.
Poland and its NATO and EU allies in the Baltics have accused Russia of trying to destabilise the region using “hybrid warfare,” which includes the “weaponisation” of illegal migration and spreading misinformation in the region. Despite the seriousness of these accusations, the war in Ukraine, Poland’s military assistance to Ukraine, and the effects of the war are not hot topics in the election campaign, as Paweł Lisicki, editor-in-chief of the Polish conservative weekly Do Rzeczy, recently explained to The European Conservative.
