The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Couple warned hotel of legionnaires’ year before double death
SCARE: Fife man contracted disease during holiday to Bulgaria with family
A Fife holidaymaker who contracted legionnaires’ disease after a stay at a Bulgarian hotel in which two other former guests have just died, says his wife warned hotel bosses a year ago of concerns.
Dunfermline man James Cooper spent three weeks fighting for his life after returning from the Kalofer Hotel in Bulgaria with the bug.
His wife, Janet, alerted hotel management of her husband’s situation and demanded action.
The couple now say they are disgusted after learning that two other holidaymakers had died from legionnaires’, a severe form of pneumonia, shortly after staying at the same three-star hotel at the Sunny Beach resort.
“I advised the manager to get her staff to check the air conditioning and shower facilities at the hotel,” said Janet.
“I got a response from her on Facebook shocked to hear our news and also listing the hotel’s water cleansing routines.”
The couple, along with their teenage daughter Chloe, stayed at the Kalofer in July last year.
Janet recalls that a couple of nights before they were set to return home, James slept for around two hours with the air conditioning on.
“We suspect that it was at that time James picked up the bug as it was the only time we had the air conditioning on.”
Janet said that soon after they returned home her husband suffered a dry cough and his breathing became difficult not long after.
He was diagnosed with a chest infection and given antibiotics but his condition deteriorated further until he was rushed to Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy where he spent four days in a coma.
Janet is now also calling for better awareness and consideration of the symptoms for people returning from holidays abroad.
A spokesman for the hotel said: “From the beginning of the summer season, more than 50 samples from the guest rooms, the kitchen, the pools, the water heaters and other parts and systems in the hotel have been tested and in all, no legionella is found.”
“We suspect that it was at that time James picked up the bug as it was the only time we had the air conditioning on. JANET COOPER