Tests being carried out at a private clinic in Nicosia to determine the source of an infection of legionnaires disease, which saw one baby hospitalised, have thus far not produced any clear results, epidemiological surveillance unit officer Michalis Mendris said on Friday.
“We have some results which are preliminary, but we will continue the analyses. There is nothing clear at this time to say. We are looking in the water supply network both at the clinic and at the child’s family home,” he said.
It had initially been expected that the source of the infection would be found by the end of this week, but now, he said, this deadline has been pushed back.
“We expect to have a clear picture from the analyses both from the hospital and from the home. We expect to have the final results next week,” he said.
He added that the clinic “remains closed because analyses are being conducted”, and that the baby who was hospitalised remains in a “critical but stable” condition at Nicosia’s Makarios children’s hospital.
On this front, he said that it is “significant” that no other baby who was being treated at the clinic or adult who was working at it has been diagnosed with the disease.
“As long as the days go by and no other incident occurs, that is good. A few more days and we will be able to say that there will not be another incident,” he said.
The United Kingdom’s national health service describes legionnaires disease as “a lung infection you can get from inhaling droplets of water from things like air conditioning or hot tubs”, and that it is “uncommon but very serious”.
It does not typically spread from person to person, but instead only through the inhalation of water droplets contaminated with the bacteria, which ordinarily grow in man-made water systems.
Previously, Mendris had said that the microbe which causes the disease can grow for “various reasons”, such as “seasonal stagnation of the network” or “a problem with the temperature” of the water in the supply.
Israel’s health ministry has said Hadassah Medical Centre did not bring its plan for a medical centre in Cyprus to its attention.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail on Friday, the ministry said it has contacted the hospital to request clarifications and further details, including the medical services the centre intends to provide.
Hadassah Medical Centre Limassol had insisted on Thursday that it operates legally with the required licences and has never performed plasmapheresis on a patient.
The ministry said Hadassah, based in Jerusalem, is a public hospital that receives funding from the state to ensure public healthcare for Israeli residents, and that the health and finance ministries oversee it in accordance with the law.
It said any new activity by a hospital, particularly outside its campus, requires “regulatory and financial review” to ensure it does not affect the availability of medical services, medical personnel or the hospital’s financial stability.
Hadassah received 162 million shekels (over €46.5 million) in state support last year, though it clarified that it “did not invest a single shekel” in the centre in Limassol, which is financed by Cypriot investors.
In a statement, the Limassol centre said an earlier report by Politis gave “misleading impressions that require immediate correction”.
It denied that a specific complaint was pending and said it had not been informed of any finding that questioned its current operation.
The Cypriot health ministry is presently examining new complaints and said the centre holds only an imaging centre licence.
Deputy permanent secretary Elisavet Constantinou said it has no hospital licence or other licence to operate as a healthcare facility, though Politis clarified that this did not in itself make any other activity unlawful.
Hadassah said a separate medical centre licence is not required for its current activities beyond professional and individual requirements, and that the licence for its radiology department had been secured.
It said a possible upgrade to a day care unit would be a separate licensing process.
On plasmapheresis, Politis reported that ministry inspectors had found the equipment during an inspection.
Hadassah said the equipment “was not concealed” and that a list naming the plasmapheresis system and an ozone therapy unit was sent to the ministry on August 26 as part of the final file for the imaging licence.
“The purchase of equipment for a planned service does not constitute proof that the service was provided,” it said.
Politis had also pointed out that only three doctors appear on the centre’s website.
Hadassah said it had given the paper a list of 15 doctors and two clinical dietitians, and that it employs five licensed nurses and seven physical therapy and exercise professionals.
A further 15 doctors are under discussion but have not been announced because “approvals are incomplete”.
Politis reported that some examinations or treatments may have involved doctors in Israel taking part by telephone or video link, a claim it said had not been independently verified.
Hadassah called this a misrepresentation of its second opinion service. It said the local doctor reviews the file and, if a second opinion is warranted and the patient agrees, prepares a report with specific clinical questions for a specialist in Jerusalem.
The process “does not involve tele-guidance” of a procedure in Cyprus, it said.
Chief executive Dr George Zachariadis had earlier given Politis no direct answer on teleconference participation.
The centre said it “accepts the audit and responds with evidence” but would not tolerate publications that harm its reputation through “inaccuracies and insinuations”.
The centre, based in Ayios Tychonas, has no operating theatres or inpatient beds. It offers imaging, cardiac assessment, neurological rehabilitation and physiotherapy.
It began seeing patients in July and was formally inaugurated last Thursday, when Israeli President Isaac Herzog described it as “an important new chapter in relations between Israel and Cyprus”.
From November 21, all referrals from Cyprus to Hadassah in Jerusalem will go through Limassol.
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