1 A high school canceled classes for a second day Thursday after a custodian was diagnosed with Legionnaires' disease and another custodian began showing symptoms of the disease.
2 Test results to determine if the second custodian at Hunterdon Central Regional High School has the disease should be available in about five days, said Marilyn Riley, state Health Department spokeswoman.
3 The bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease is transmitted through the air from vaporized water, Ms. Riley said.
4 Health officials inspected the building Thursday for bacteria sources.
5 Samples of water will be taken Friday and Sunday from the school, she said.
6 'Our feeling is, if we're going to have to run a disrupted school day because of the testing, we may as well take one more day off,' said district spokesman Willard Richard.
7 'We're also concerned about any possible health hazard.
8 We don't want to be taking chances.'
9 A 33-year-old male custodian, who officials have declined to identify, was diagnosed with Legionnaires' in December.
10 He was responding to treatment at Warren Hospital in Phillipsburg and was expected to be released soon, Ms. Riley said.
11 He was admitted to the hospital Dec. 18.
12 A 44-year-old custodian at the school became sick Jan. 2 with pneumonia and a high fever.
13 He also was responding to therapy and doing well in Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington, she said.
14 Legionnaires' disease is fatal about in 15 percent to 20 percent of confirmed cases, said Robert Breiman, a medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
15 It is usually successfully treated with antibiotics.
16 The source of Legionnaires' disease would be easier to find if the second custodian has the disease, but it would not confirm that the bacteria was at the school because the men could have been in a common place other than the school when they contracted the bacteria, Breiman said.
17 If only the one case is confirmed, it will be harder to determine its source, he said.
18 About 1,850 students from Flemington, Readington, Delaware, Raritan and East Amwell townships attend the school.
19 People under 20 years old usually are not affected by the bacteria, called legionella pneumophila, Breiman said.
20 It most commonly strikes elderly people and those whose immune systems are weakened, he said.
21 Legionnaires' disease was named from an outbreak at the Pennsylvania American Legion convention at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia in July 1976.
22 Thirty-four people - 29 Legionnaires or family members and five other people who had been near the hotel - eventually died of the disease.
23 About 800 to 1,000 cases of Legionnaires' disease are reported to the center each year, Breiman said.
24 There is no vaccine, he said.

A high school canceled classes for a second day Thursday after a custodian was diagnosed with Legionnaires ' disease and another custodian began showing symptoms of the disease .
symptoms
What are some of the symptoms?