Hot Tub Displays at North Carolina Fair Likely Cause of Legionnaires’ Outbreak

North Carolina health officials say hot tub displays inside a building at a fair are likely to blame for an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease last month.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said on its webpage Thursday that early findings show that people diagnosed with the disease likely visited the Davis Event Center at the Mountain State Fair last month and walked by the hot tub displays.

According to the department, early results from laboratory testing of environmental samples identified Legionella bacteria in one water sample taken from the event center. Results are still pending from other samples taken in the investigation.

The department says 124 cases of Legionnaires’ disease and Pontiac fever had been reported as of Wednesday.