Warning: compost can kill
Driving compost around was what likely led to one man being declared the sickest person in New Zealand.
Levon Anderson, 41, had just started a new job at a gardening supplies company, when he was struck down by Legionnaires disease.
The Christchurch man became unwell with cold and flulike symptoms on September 16 but four days later he was put into an induced coma in Christchurch Hospital intensive care unit (ICU).
On Friday he was moved out of the ICU to a general ward after 12 days on life-support.
The father of two boys spent two and-a-half years unable to work due to a back injury and recovery from two major surgeries.
He had re-trained and obtained truck driving licenses in an effort to change career.
At the end of August he was thrilled to start a new job transporting compost and gardening soil, Anderson’s sister Stacey Breen said.
But his new start came to an abrupt end three weeks later.
What started as a regular cough and cold accelerated into a life-threatening respiratory disease within hours, Breen said.
‘‘Because the symptoms are just like the flu you don’t know how sick you are until it’s life or death.’’
On September 21 staff put him into an induced coma when he was struggling to breathe. ‘‘I think we all knew he could possibly have died but we just hoped he would get better. I was pretty worried for him,’’ Breen said.
The father of two was treated with general antibiotics for the first few days until a diagnosis of Legionnaires was made on September 25.
After a few days hospital staff prepared to transfer him to Auckland where life-support machines could keep his organs functioning.
‘‘They said to my mum at that point in time he was the sickest person in New Zealand. He was critical and if they turned off the oxygen machine he would die.’’
Treatment with Legionnaires specific antibiotics worked to attack the Legionella bacteria.
Over several days he was brought out of a coma.
Doctors believed it was most likely he had contracted the disease from inhalation of the legionellosis bacteria in the compost and gardening mix he was transporting for his job, Breen said.
Anderson was thrilled to start a new job at the end of August transporting compost and gardening soil, Breen said.
‘‘He was so excited to go back to work.’’
Breen said he was still very sick and could not raise his arm more than a few centimetres or walk without assistance.
He faced a long recovery of at least several months in a rehabilitation unit at Burwood Hospital.
Breen said her brother wanted to warn others how easy it was to get such a deadly disease and mistake the symptoms for something else.
‘‘The biggest thing Levon wanted people to know was that something people use every day – just opening the bag [of compost or potting mix] – can kill you. It’s scary.’’
You’ve got no idea until you are on death’s door.’’
Canterbury medical officer of health Dr Alistair Humphrey said several others had been admitted to hospital with the disease this year but did not require intensive care. He did not know how many.
Last year, 62 Cantabrians were hospitalised with Legionnaires’ and 13 required intensive care. One patient was admitted to intensive care for 42 days.
Humphrey said there were five key actions gardeners could take to avoid the disease: opening potting mix carefully, wearing a safety mask when gardening, dampening down potting mix with compost or water, working with potting mix in a wellventilated area, and washing hands thoroughly.
Legionnaires’ is a type of pneumonia. The illness may be mild, but can be fatal. It is more common in older people, especially if they smoke, have poor immunity or a chronic illness.
Symptoms include dry coughing, high fever, chills, diarrhoea, shortness of breath, chest pains, headaches, excessive sweating, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
‘‘They said to my mum at that point in time he was the sickest person in New Zealand. He was critical and if they turned off the oxygen machine he would die.’’
Levon Anderson’s sister Stacey Breen