Legionnaires' probe at suspect lab

LONDON, England (CNN) -- British health authorities announced Thursday they are investigating a reported case of Legionnaires' disease with suspected links to the same laboratory in that has been tied to a recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in cattle.

The Health Protection Agency's investigation revealed that the individual suspected of having the disease worked in the ISO10 building at the Institute of Animal Health at Pirbright, in Surrey, southwest of London.

Investigators believe the foot-and-mouth virus may have originated in Merial Animal Health's Pirbright laboratory, which was producing a vaccine for the disease.

Britain's Institute for Animal Health carries out tests on foot-and-mouth at the Pirbright facility, which was manufacturing a batch of vaccines that included the strain detected in cattle at a nearby farm last week, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said.

As part of their investigation into how the person contracted Legionnaires' disease, investigators are analyzing "everywhere the patient has been in the 10-14 days before falling ill, including their home, place of work and anywhere they may have traveled to or visited," according to the HPA.

Legionnaires' disease is a respiratory bacterial infection usually spread through mist that comes from a water source, such as cooling towers, air conditioning or showers.

It is not transmitted person to person. Symptoms of the disease include fever, chills and a cough, and it is often accompanied by pneumonia.

Most people recover, but between 5 percent to 30 percent of those who get the disease die, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

An outbreak of the disease in Philadelphia in 1976, largely among people attending a convention of the American Legion, led to its name.

The latest outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease has sparked a major alert in the UK, which was forced to cull millions of animals six years ago after an earlier outbreak that the government was accused of handling badly.

On Wednesday the UK eased restrictions on the movement of livestock outside the area close to the disease outbreak. An EU embargo on British farm produce remained in place. E-mail to a friend

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