Last week, Legionnaires-disease causing bacteria were found in the hot-water systems of buildings at West Chester University. It led to the shut off of hot water to nine buildings during the weekend, while the systems were sanitized. This incident has happened for the second time in the campus this summer.

A university spokeswoman said that on Monday, the first day of classes, the remediation company appointed to tackle the situation reported that the systems sanitization has been done successfully.

The spokeswoman added that the university is looking forward to set up a protocol with the ProAsys, a water treatment firm that tested and cleaned the cooling towers and hot water systems, just in case the bacteria make a comeback.

The university began the testing for the bacteria in July actively when an employee tested positive for Legionnaires disease. Initially, the cooling towers on campus were tested and eight buildings were detected with the bacteria. They were treated previous month. But, then the university decided to test other systems on campus.

The disease is basically a severe form of pneumonia. People contract the disease mainly through water infected with legionella bacteria.

As per the estimations of CDC, in a year between 8,000 and 18,000 people are hospitalized in the US for legionnaire’s disease. The agency added, “Healthy people usually get better after being sick with Legionnaires’ disease, but hospitalization is often required”.