Patient dies in Stoke-on-Trent Legionnaires' outbreak

One of the patients affected by a Legionnaires' disease outbreak has died in hospital, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said today.

A total of 16 people have been confirmed as suffering from the disease in Stoke-on-Trent.

The number of confirmed cases has been rising steadily since news of the outbreak emerged on Tuesday and today the HPA said one of the patients in hospital had died.

No further details were released about the person who died, and officials are waiting for a cause of death from the coroner.

The HPA said there had been one further case confirmed in Stoke, bringing the total to 16.

All those affected are aged between their late-40s and mid-70s.

A spokesman for University Hospital of North Staffordshire said: "The trust is currently treating 11 patients confirmed with Legionnaires' disease who are all in a stable or improving condition.

"One patient has sadly died.

"Three patients are well enough to go home and have been discharged."

A spokesman for Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, added: "We are treating a patient transferred from the University Hospital of North Staffordshire confirmed with Legionnaires' disease who is in a critical but stable condition."

PA