‘Long haul’ ahead for FM Legionnaires’ disease patient

FORT MYERS, Fla. – A woman who contracted a rare bacterial disease is recovering after spending a couple of weeks at Lee Memorial Hospital.

Lee County Health Department confirmed that two people at the Del Tura Country Club in North Fort Myers had caught Legionnaires’ disease. Denise Higgins said she was one of them.

“If it wasn’t for my good two friends I’d be dead right now,” Higgins said.

Friends rushed her to the hospital Jan. 7 when they discovered she couldn’t get out the bed, Higgins said. Then she spent days in an intensive care unit.

“They gave me all the things I needed in ICU for like two and a half weeks and I just got out of the hospital on Monday the 25th,” Higgins said. “Prior to that I was healthy.”

Legionnaires’ disease is a rare disease that spreads through water and can cause pneumonia. Higgins believes she caught it on one of her frequent trips to Del Tura’s hot tub.

“I was going to the jacuzzi basically everyday at the north pool,” Higgins said. “I’d go in the morning and I’d go in the evening.”

The health department informed the Del Tura Country Club community of the outbreak the day Higgins was rushed to the hospital. The community’s jacuzzi was closed the following day, Jan. 8. On Jan. 13 the health department tested the water, but results were returned negative for the Legionnaires’ bacteria.

The Lee County Health Department maintains that people are not in danger of contracting the disease.

Now out the hospital, Higgins said doctors will continue to monitor her condition.

“I have multiple appointments lung doctors — all kinds of therapy I start — so it’s a long haul,” she said.