Likely source of deadly legionnaires' outbreak in London, Ont., is ID'd as more become sick

The likely source of a persistent outbreak of legionnaires' disease that's killed four people and sent nearly 90 people to hospital in London, Ont., has been determined.

The Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) said Tuesday that it has matched the bacterial subtype that can cause pneumonia-like symptoms in people to Sofina Foods Inc., a meat-processing plant that employs hundreds of workers in the city's east end.

"During extensive case investigations, environmental sampling and collaboration with building operators, multiple cooling towers at nine separate locations in London tested positive for live legionella bacteria," the health unit wrote in a statement. "Results from further testing at Sofina Foods Inc. were found to match the subtype linked to the outbreak."

Sofina Foods Inc. in