A Massachusetts mom of three and retired physical therapist died of Legionnaires’ disease after staying at a ritzy New Hampshire resort, where another guest was hospitalized with the infection months later.
The two guests had booked stays at the Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa and are believed to have come in contact with Legionella bacteria, which causes the infection and can contaminate water systems, in the hotel’s hot tub, according to New Hampshire health officials.
Barbara Kruschwitz, 71, died in October just one week after staying at the resort and dipping in the hotel tub as well as its pool, her husband Henry told WMUR.
She developed pneumonia that she was unable to fight off.
“Her heart had stopped and she couldn’t be revived,” Kruschwitz said of his wife, a mom of three sons. “And — that’s about as much as I can say.”
The Department of Health and Human Services conducted an investigation after the two cases were linked back to the resort and found trace amounts of the bacteria in the resort’s hot tub, it announced last week, according to Boston.com.
Henry Kruschwitz was shocked that more wasn’t done to prevent another infection after his wife’s death.
“It’s harder to figure out, kind of fathom, that now that a second person has gotten sick. That’s unacceptable,” Kruschwitz said. “You don’t want to see anybody else go through what I went through.”
The second guest, who hasn’t been identified but was an older adult from Rhode Island, stayed at the resort and got ill in December.
“They were they were at the resort at different times, in fact, different months and staying in different rooms,” Dr. Benjamin Chan, state epidemiologist for the Department of Health and Human Services, said to WCVB. “Both of them were older adults and both of them were hospitalized for their infection, which oftentimes is the case with Legionnaires’ disease.”
Legionnaires’ disease can infect people through water droplets that are inhaled. Its symptoms — which begin in two to 14 days after exposure — include fever, cough, shortness of breath, muscle aches, headaches and — in severe cases — pneumonia, according to the CDC.
People with weakened immune systems are at greater risk of adverse effects.
The hot tub at Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa has been taken out of service and poses no threat to the public, health officials said.
The health department has not found other cases of the bacterial disease connected to the resort.
Resort administrators said the hot tub was drained and closed down with no plans to re-open it, according to Boston.com
“It is unclear at this time, and may never be known, if the trace amounts of Legionella [in the hot tub] were of the same bacterium that led to the illness of two former guests,” the resort said in a statement to the outlet. “The indoor hot tub, when operational, was a self-contained system and the trace amount of Legionella was isolated from the rest of the property.”
The Post reached out to the resort for comment.
