- Ford notified employees on June 20 that Legionella bacteria was found in the water at its Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan.
- Local Detroit radio station WWJ reported on Wednesday that Ford found Legionella in three locations across the plant.
- But the bacteria count was not high enough to shut down the plant, which employs some 15,000 people .
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Ford told employees at its sprawling plant in Dearborn, Michigan, that small amounts of deadly Legionella bacteria have been found in the water
REUTERS/Rebecca Cook
A bacteria that causes a rare, highly-deadly type of pneumonia has been found in one of the biggest car factories in America.
The local Detroit radio station WWJ reported on Wednesday that Ford found small amounts of the Legionella bacteria in the water at its Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan.
The auto company told employees in a letter on June 20 that Legionella was found in three locations across the plant including two bathrooms and the medical department.
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However, the total count of Legionella bacteria was not enough to warrant shutting down the plant to disinfect, Ford said in the letter. "The affected areas will be scheduled for on-line disinfection according to established procedures," the letter said.
Ford did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
Founded in 1918, the Rouge is America's longest-continuously operating auto factory in America. It employs some 15,000 people, though as many as 120,000 worked there at its peak during World War II, according to the Detroit Free Press .
"I describe it as the heartbeat of the company," Bill Ford, 61, executive chairman of the board, told the Free Press . "We make the F-150 there. It's our flagship, built by the best workers in the country. Whatever we do in the future, we'll do it at the Rouge."
Meanwhile, the Legionella bacteria causes a rare type of pneumonia called Legionnaires' disease. Some 6,100 Americans are diagnosed with the illness every year, amd around 10% of those who develop Legionnaires' disease die from it .
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The CDC says Legionella develops naturally in streams and lakes, but proper water management programs are necessary to prevent the bacteria from entering buildings and infecting people. The bacteria can't be spread from person to person, but is instead acquired from inhaling droplets of water with the bacteria in it.
Ten people in New York City died from an outbreak of the disease in 2015 , while more than 100 were infected.
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