More Legionnaires' cases expected
The number of cases in a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires' disease is expected to continue rising until the weekend.
One man has died and 15 other people are in a critical condition in hospital following the outbreak in Edinburgh, with a further 15 suspected cases being investigated.
Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said it is a significant outbreak of considerable concern.
Dr Duncan McCormick, consultant in public medicine and chairman of the incident management team at NHS Lothian, warned that cases of the disease could continue rising until the weekend.
"The incubation period of Legionnaires' disease is between two and 14 days but the average is five or six days, so we're expecting to have more cases over the next few days," he told BBC Radio Scotland.
While tests are being carried out to determine the exact source of the outbreak, a number of water cooling towers in the city have been chemically treated.
Speaking on the Good Morning Scotland programme, Dr McCormick said: "If our action has been correct, we hope to have removed the source though our shock treatment of these cooling towers. So we would hope that by the weekend, five or six days after the treatment, we will start to see a decline in cases."
NHS Lothian has confirmed that the patient who died was in his 50s and had other health conditions. He was being treated at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
Thirteen men and two women aged between 33 and 74 with the disease are in a critical condition and are being treated in intensive care in hospitals in the Lothian area.
One man has recovered and has been discharged. A further 10 men and five women are being treated in hospitals but their illness has not yet been confirmed.
