Legionnaires’ Disease Reported At Boston VA Hospital

Water at three Veterans Affairs hospitals in Boston is being tested after a patient was diagnosed with Legionnaires' disease.

The Boston Globe reports that the VA Healthcare System announced the diagnosis Friday and is testing water at its hospitals in the city's Brockton, Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury neighborhoods.

Officials say the patient diagnosed with the disease had been treated at all three hospitals. The patient's condition was not released. Test results are expected within two weeks.

Legionnaire's disease is a bacterial pneumonia spread by inhaling droplets of contaminated water. Symptoms are similar to the flu.

Health officials in Rhode Island confirmed three cases of the disease at a Providence nursing home on Friday. Fifteen cases were previously confirmed in Hampton, New Hampshire, over the summer, including one death.