Health officials are trying to find out where Lompoc City Councilman Mike Siminski, who was hospitalized for 10 days with Legionnaires' Disease, may have contracted the illness.

A Lompoc hotel where Siminski stayed for one night before leaving for a meeting in Sacramento last month has been ruled out as a source for the disease, according to the Santa Barbara County Health Department. Siminski said he stayed in the hotel because his house was being fumigated.

Although state health officials said they will work with health officials in Santa Barbara County, Siminski said he doesn't believe he contracted Legionnaires' Disease in Sacramento. He said he recalls feeling fatigued - a symptom of pneumonia - shortly before and during his trip north.

Last week, health officials examined a hot tub in the local hotel where Siminski stayed, but said it was properly chlorinated and an unlikely source for the councilman's illness. Neither Siminski nor health officials would identify the hotel.

Frank Alvarez, deputy health officer with the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department, said Siminski could have contracted the illness from any of numerous sources.

The Legionella bacteria that causes the illness resides in the soil and warm bodies of water. Officials said, however, it is routine to conduct interviews with afflicted patients to determine if the patient had stayed in a hotel in the days leading up to an infection.

Legionnaires' Disease, a very serious and sometimes fatal form of pneumonia, is caused when the bacteria is transmitted through water, such as in a mist from hot tubs or seldom-used shower heads.

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The Legionella bacteria can thrive in pools or hot tubs that have not been properly chlorinated. It can also stay in the water cooling units of large air conditioning systems.

The disease was so named after numerous people attending an American Legion conference in Philadelphia in 1976 suffered from an outbreak of the disease, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

An estimated 8,000 to 18,000 people get Legionnaires' Disease in the United States each year, according to an online source.

Siminski returned July 27 from a League of California Cities meeting in Sacramento. He was hospitalized in Lompoc two days later, then transferred to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.

Siminski, who is recovering at home, said doctors are still trying to determine the cause of internal bleeding that was found during his hospital stay.

Neil Nisperos can be reached at 737-1059 or nnisperos@santa

mariatimes.com.

August 9, 2007