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Portuguese fertilizer firm, General Electric held defendants over Legionella outbreak

Xinhua, July 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

Portuguese fertilizer company Adubos de Portugal and U.S.industrial company General Electric have been held defendants over a case involving a Legionella outbreak, Portuguese Lusa news agency reported on Wednesday.

The investigation came after a Legionnaires' outbreak in 2014 affected around 375 people and killed 12 in the Vila Franca de Xira region, north of Lisbon.

The authorities traced the disease to industrial cooling towers, leading the main ones to be closed.

The deadly legionnaires' disease is a type of pneumonia caused by the legionella bacteria, which can be transmitted through breathing mist from water containing the bacteria.

The World Health Organization warned it was a "major public health emergency" and the biggest in Portugal up-to-date. Endit