CHICAGO
Two people have died after contracting Legionnaires' disease in an outbreak linked to a downtown Marriott hotel this summer, Chicago Department of Public Health officials have reported.The two are among eight people who came down with Legionnaires' after staying in the JW Marriott Chicago between mid-July and mid-August.
None of the eight people who contracted the disease are from the Chicago area or are being treated in the city, but local officials declined to provide any further information about them, citing privacy laws. The conditions of the six surviving people who caught Legionnaires' is not known.
The city's health department and hotel officials first announced three cases of the disease last week. At the time, the hotel said it had mailed letters about the outbreak to an estimated 65 percent of the 8,500 guests who stayed at the hotel between July 16 and Aug. 15.
At this time, 80 percent of those guests have been notified, and efforts were being made to reach the rest, according to a Marriott spokesman. Current guests are being informed of the outbreak, although the city's health department says there is "no ongoing health risk at the hotel." Marriott has cooperated with the investigation, health officials said.
