A Fife holidaymaker who contracted Legionnaires’ Disease after a stay at a Bulgarian hotel in which two other former guests have just died, says his wife warned hotel bosses a year ago of concerns.
Dunfermline man James Cooper spent three weeks fighting for his life after returning from the Kalofer Hotel in Bulgaria with the bug.
His wife, Janet, alerted hotel management of her husband’s situation and demanded action.
The couple now say they are disgusted after learning that two other holidaymakers had died from Legionnaires’, a severe form of pneumonia, shortly after staying at the same three-star hotel at the Sunny Beach resort.
“I advised the manager to get her staff to check the air conditioning and shower facilities at the hotel,” said Janet.
“I got a response from her on Facebook shocked to hear our news and also listing the hotels water cleansing routines.
“The hotel said it had also spent £23,000 on a system to prevent Legionnaires’ and a assured us that no problems had been reported but having been there we just can’t see how that amount has been spent.”
The couple, along with their teenage daughter Chloe, stayed at the Kalofer in July last year.
Janet recalls that a couple of nights before they were set to return home, James slept for around two hours with the air conditioning on.
“We suspect that it was at that time James picked up the bug as it was the only time we had the air conditioning on.”
Janet said that soon after they returned home her husband suffered a dry cough with his breathing became difficult not long after.
He was diagnosed with a chest infection and given antibiotics but his condition deteriorated further until he was rushed to Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy where he spent four days in a coma.
At the height of his illness James was given just hours to live, but managed to pull through.
Janet is now also calling for better awareness and consideration of the symptoms for people returning from holidays abroad.
A spokesman for the hotel said: “From the beginning of the summer season, more than 50 samples from the guest rooms , the kitchen, the pools, the water heaters and other parts and systems in the hotel have been tested and in all, no Legionella is found.”
Two British holidaymakers have died of Legionnaires’ since staying at the hotel.
Brian Taylor, 75, from Huddersfield, was admitted to hospital with flu-like symptoms days after he returned from a week-long stay in the hotel on June 17.
He was diagnosed with a collapsed lung, sepsis and Legionnaires’ disease before he died in hospital a month later.
John Cowan, 43, from Lanarkshire, was admitted after falling ill while holidaying with a friend from June 4 to 11.
His condition deteriorated rapidly and his family decided to switch off his life support after he suffered catastrophic brain damage.
The cause of his death on June 19 was given as septic shock and Legionella pneumonia.
