Gardeners Beware

Doctors warn all gardeners to be extremely careful when handling compost. The warning comes after a Scottish man contracted the deadly Legionnaire’s disease. The 67-year-old pensioner became infected by the disease though a small cut on his finger, whilst using a trowel.

The keen gardener was described as fit and healthy before he developed the disease, and has now made a successful recovery. The pensioner experienced eight days of trembling, shortness of breath, confusion and lethargy before he was seen by doctors at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, central Scotland.

X-rays taken at the hospital also showed the patient was suffering from high temperature and had signs of pneumonia in the left lung.

Doctors urged for future precautions to be taken, and wrote symptoms of this illness in the medical book so future incidents like this could be diagnosed.

Doctor Simon Patten and colleagues from the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, Scotland, wrote: “I think doctors and gardeners need to be aware of this. The risk may be low but precautions can be taken. When we questioned the patient to find out the source of this infection, we discovered that he was a keen gardener and had lacerated his left index finger two days before the onset of his symptoms. We presumed this cut was the sight of entry of the organism.”