August 22, 2002 MATARO, Spain (AP) -- Health authorities Thursday confirmed six new cases of Legionnaires' disease, raising the total number of people infected by the bacteria in this northeastern city to 95.
An 83-year-old woman and a 49-year-old man have died in the outbreak, which has been traced to air conditioning equipment in an ice factory, the Catalunya regional heath department said in a statement.
Twenty two people were still hospitalized.
Health officials believe all the victims lived, worked or passed near the factory in the neighborhood of Cerdanyola in Mataro, which is 390 miles from Madrid.
Legionnaires' disease is a form of pneumonia discovered after an outbreak that killed 34 people at a 1976 American Legion convention in Pennsylvania. The bacterium that causes it is typically spread when contaminated water is released into the air through air conditioners, steam or other means.
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