West Chester University Increases Efforts To Combat Legionnaires' Bacteria On Campus

By Tim Jimenez 

WEST CHESTER, Pa. (CBS) - It is the first day of classes at West Chester University after a weekend of ramped up efforts to deal with the Legionnaire's disease bacteria detected in a number of buildings.

University officials, in a memo posted on the school website, say they turned off the hot water in nine buildings and super-chlorinated the hot water systems to kill the bacteria.

Six of the buildings are academic (Anderson Hall, Main Hall, Merion Hall, Peoples Building, Ruby Jones Hall, Schumucker Science Center South) and three are University buildings (Messikomer Hall, Speakman Building, 13/15 University Avenue.)

University officials say the levels of the bacteria were not cause for immediate concern. This comes after a University employee tested positive for Legionnaire's in early July. Late last month, officials alerted University employees that a higher-than-acceptable level of bacteria was detected in cooling towers in eight buildings on campus.

Those towers were treated effectively, University officials say, and they followed up with testing of hot water systems.

The school, citing the Chester County health Department, says it's safe to operate, business as usual, as classes begin Monday morning.