Legionnaires' disease closes Devon hotel

A Devon hotel has closed after a holidaymaker was struck down with Legionnaires' disease. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /?>

The holidaymaker from the West Midlands, staying at the 40-bedroom Roseland Hotel in Torquay, fell ill with the disease last week, while another has gone down with a related disease called Pontiac fever. A further eight cases are being investigated.

It is thought the disease could have come from a shower-head in one of the hotel's suites, but the fact that all those who fell ill travelled to Torquay on the same coach has raised suspicions it could also have been contracted on the journey down.

The water system at the hotel is now being chlorinated and South and West Devon Health Authority is trying to trace every guest who has stayed at the hotel since the start of the month.

The hotel employs some 20 staff, none of whom has succumbed.

Brian Robertson, general manager of the hotel, who returned from holiday on Monday to the crisis, said he was "devastated" but heartened by the fact that no one had yet cancelled bookings as a result.

"After foot-and-mouth, this was the last kind of thing that Torquay needed," he added.

Robertson said he was hopeful the hotel would be given the all-clear by environmental investigators and re-open on Friday.

by Nic Paton