GALVESTON — The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston is placing special filters on some faucets after discovering higher than normal levels of the bacterium that causes Legionnaires' disease, officials said Friday. 

"UTMB epidemiologists are confident there is no risk to patients, personnel or visitors," the medical school said in a statement. 

Newborns at the John Sealy Hospital's maternity ward, the only section of the hospital in operation, are vulnerable to infection, but doctors have been alerted and no cases of Legionnaires' disease have been detected, said Dr. C. Glen Mayhall, head of the UTMB department of healthcare epidemiology. 

"I think it's a signal we have a problem that could get worse if we did nothing about it," Mayhall said. 

A subcontractor for HDR, an engineering company based in Omaha, Neb., will arrive next week to test Legionella levels and eradicate the bacteria from the water system, UTMB spokesman Jim Kelly said. 

"What we found was not in alarming amounts," said Karen Sexton, UTMB executive vice president and chief operating officer of the health system. 

Mayhall said 20 percent of the hospital faucets tested positive for Legionella, 10 percentage points below the level at which outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease are known to occur. 

UTMB is installing special faucets in the pediatric ward to filter out all bacteria, Mayhall said. 

Galveston officials said city water also would be tested for the Legionella bacterium as a precaution after learning Friday that it had been discovered in the hospital water supply. 

The presence of Legionella became public when a UTMB employee notified a television station, UTMB spokeswoman Marsha Canright said. 

Legionella was discovered the day before Thanksgiving as UTMB officials screened the water system for Legionella and other bacteria that commonly are found in water systems after severe storms, said Pamela Falk, director of UTMB health care epidemiology. 

The screening was part of environmental assessment being conducted in the wake of Hurricane Ike, which caused $710 million in losses for UTMB. 

The public disclosure of the problem comes two weeks after UTMB, reeling from storm damage, laid off about 3,000 of its 12,000 employees in an effort to stem its financial losses. 

Mayhall said water in the pipes had been stagnant in warm weather following the Sept. 13 storm when the hospital was unused, a condition that allows bacteria to bloom. 

Officials specifically checked for Legionella, along with other bacteria that can thrive in stagnant conditions, after learning that other hospitals had discovered it in their water systems following storms, he said. 

He said there is no standard for safe levels of Legionella. 

No one has contracted the disease, which must be breathed into the lungs to cause an infection, Mayhall said. 

Mayhall said only babies and people with weakened immune systems were susceptible to the disease, which is a form of pneumonia that is easily treatable with antibiotics. 

Legionnaires' disease is usually fatal only when it goes untreated, he said. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Protection lists a fatality rate of between 5 and 30 percent. 

Kurt Koopman, spokesman for the Galveston County Health District, said all cases of Legionnaires' disease must by law be reported. Only one case has been reported this year, but it was before the hurricane, he said. 

"We don't have any reports indicating a threat to public health," Koopman said.

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