03:23 pm, Tuesday 12 December, 2006

By Evan Schwarten

Article from: AAP

ANOTHER 12 workers from a central Queensland coal mine are being tested for legionnaires’ disease after two of their colleagues were admitted to hospital with it last week.

Mining giant Anglo Coal closed its Grasstree Creek mine, near Middlemount in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, at the weekend after a second man tested positive to the respiratory disease.

A Queensland Health spokeswoman said 11 workers visited a Middlemount doctor suffering symptoms of the disease including coughs and fever.

Another worker was treated for pneumonia in a Mackay hospital last week.

All 12 were being tested for legionnaires’ disease by Queensland Health officers.

The two workers admitted to Rockhampton hospital last week have already been discharged.

Legionnaires’ disease is caused by the naturally occurring bacteria legionella, which can be found in ponds and creeks as well as in air-conditioning cooling towers and shower heads.

It causes symptoms similar to influenza or pneumonia including fever, headache, shortness of breath and muscle aches.

The disease cannot be transferred from human to human.

Central Area Health Service public health physician Dr Margaret Young said water samples collected from the mine over the weekend had been sent to Brisbane for testing, but results would not be known for four to seven days.

Dr Young said any workers or contractors from the mine who developed a cough or fever should contact a GP immediately.

She said if treated properly, patients normally improved within three to five days.

An Anglo Coal spokesman yesterday said the mine would remain closed until the company received the results of the testing.

Report by Julia Alder - Do you have an OHS News Story - Let us know