Berlin’s TV tower, or Fernsehturm, with flats within the foreground. Credit: REUTERS/Michele Tantussi
An outbreak of the possibly deadly Legionella micro organism has sparked outrage as tenants of a housing property in Berlin declare their landlords have been too gradual to react.
Well being authorities within the southern Berlin district of Neukölln restricted the utilization of showers in additional than 300 flats in an property managed by housing firm Howoge. These restrictions got here as a response to routine checks that confirmed excessive ranges of the Legionella micro organism, which might trigger Legionnaires’ illness, a type of pneumonia that may be lethal.
Nevertheless, it’s not clear how lengthy the contamination was current within the water, and tenants have complained that landlords have been gradual of their response and didn’t maintain tenants knowledgeable in regards to the outbreak, failing to impose containment measures.
Legionella can unfold by means of water vapour, however not by means of consuming or person-to-person contact. The housing firm suggested residents of the property to not take showers and to keep away from inhaling steam from dishwashers. The residential advanced makes use of the identical water supply, which made it particularly pressing that measures have been taken.
Tenants complain that extra restrictive and pressing measures have been solely carried out when the case reached nationwide media. Certainly one of them experiences having contracted the sickness in early January, solely to be notified in April that her residence was, by far, probably the most affected by the outbreak.
The tenant, Brianne Curran, stated she needed to “struggle” to get the outcomes of her personal residence since she was advised that the person outcomes couldn’t be displayed publicly because of privateness insurance policies. “It was faster to get the information on nationwide tv than it was to get a response to my e mail from Howoge,” she advised German newspaper DW. “They’re counting on outdated methods and dismally imagined protocols.”
In a press release to the identical publication, Howoge spokesperson Sabine Pentrop performed down the extent of the outbreak, stating that solely seven flats breached security ranges, and criticised well being authorities for imposing a wide-ranging bathe ban. Howoge is one of the biggest landlords in Germany, proudly owning greater than 81,000 flats within the metropolis of Berlin alone.
