Disneyland shuts down cooling towers after Legionnaires' disease cases

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Saturday, November 11, 2017
Visitors ride the Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. in 2015.
AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File-AP

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Disneyland has shut down two cooling towers after people who visited the Southern California theme park came down with Legionnaires' disease.

The Orange County Health Care Agency says a dozen cases of the bacterial illness were discovered about three weeks ago. All the patients lived or had spent time in Anaheim and nine had visited Disneyland in September.

One patient, who hadn't visited the park, has died.

The health agency says there haven't been any new cases reported.

Legionnaires' can cause severe pneumonia and is spread by mist from contaminated water.

Disneyland says it learned about the Legionnaires' cases on Oct. 27 and shut down and disinfected two cooling towers that had high levels of the bacteria. The towers will reopen after it's confirmed they are no longer contaminated.

The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and this station.

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