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Two companies charged for Portugal Leginnaires' disease outbreak

Xinhua, July 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

Portuguese authorities have charged two companies for causing the outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in 2014, Portuguese Lusa News Agency reported Wednesday.

The outbreak of the disease affected around 375 people and killed 12 north of Lisbon.

Portuguese authorities believed industrial cooling towers of Portuguese fertilizer company Adubos de Portugal and U.S industrial company General Electric caused the outbreak.

The main cooling towers of the two companies are to be closed after Portuguese authorities investigated.

Legionnaires' disease is a type of pneumonia caused by legionellosis, a deadly bacteria often found naturally in the environment that can invade the human body through the respiratory tract.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned the outbreak was a "major public health emergency" and the biggest in Portugal to date. Endi