Ex-montrealers face charges

A couple previously convicted of operating a fraud ring out of the West Island and two other ex-Montrealers have been extradited to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic, where they allegedly ran a scam defrauding elderly Americans by claiming they were sweepstakes winners.

As the Quebec City outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease claimed its 13th victim, health authorities say they will release details about attempts to locate the source of an outbreak that has infected 177 people.

That will include identifying the buildings whose cooling towers were tested, a spokeswoman for the region’s public health authority said Thursday.

That information, along with sample test results, should be made public in midOctober.

But even with those results in hand, it is not certain authorities will be able to nail down the source of the outbreak, said Pascale St-Pierre, spokeswoman for the Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de la Capitale-Nationale.

The search for the specific culprit is akin to playing a scientific version of the game Where’s Waldo, she said.

Most investigations into Legionnaires’ outbreaks elsewhere in the world were unable to cite the source, she said.

The average age of the victims of the Quebec City outbreak is 75, St-Pierre said.

The onset of symptoms for those infected was before Aug. 29, said officials, emphasizing that there have been no new cases of the bacterial respiratory illness since then.

While the incubation period for the disease is usually two to 10 days, there have been incubation periods of 20 days, so it is possible other cases from the outbreak may still be reported, she said.

The situation is “under control,” St-Pierre said.

There has been speculation about the source of the contamination and media reports have cited specific buildings.

Despite repeated requests by Quebec City Mayor Régis Labeaume, the addresses and names of the buildings have not been released.

Suspect towers, plus those of nearby buildings — 127 towers in 69 buildings — were tested and disinfected, St-Pierre said.

Building owners were also ordered to thoroughly clean the cooling towers as well as ventilation systems during a blitz that began Aug. 21.