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“Everyone in that building should have been notified the second it was learned. Everybody in that building should have been given the option to work from home … until we know what the source was.”

The case is the first incidence of Legionnaires’ disease reported this year to Ottawa Public Health. An investigation couldn’t determine how the person had been infected and a spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration says there’s no evidence to suggest the building is to blame.

Test results from the Jean Edmonds Tower were expected to be received some time Wednesday, but were not immediately available.

News of the infection came the same week that workers at two other federal buildings, Place du Centre at 200 Portage St. in Gatineau, and 30 Victoria St. in Gatineau, learned that routine tests had shown high levels of the Legionella bacteria. The cooling towers at 30 Victoria were disinfected and follow up tests showed bacteria levels back to normal, according to Public Works and Government Services Canada.

At Place du Centre, high levels of Legionella bacteria were found in a 12th floor shower on June 12. The building’s hot water system has been shut down and disinfected. Followup tests were due to be received Thursday.

Legionella: What you need to know

The culprit:

The Legionella bacterium was first identified in 1976 after a mysterious respiratory infection killed 34 American Legion members at a conference in Philadelphia. The bacteria were traced to the hotel’s air conditioning system, which circulated air throughout the building. Researchers later found the same Legionella bacteria were responsible for an outbreak of a flu-like illness two years earlier in Pontiac, Michigan.