YEKATERINBURG, July 31 (RIA Novosti) - Three people have died and 135 have been hospitalized in the Urals after being diagnosed with a virus possibly contracted from the hot water supply following maintenance work, the Russian consumer safety regulator said Tuesday.
Earlier reports said citing local health officials said that 129 people have been hospitalized in the region.
"One hundred thirty-five people, including 13 children, have been hospitalized. We have also registered three deaths," the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare said in a statement.
The first patients, ranging in age from 18 to 81, began arriving at a hospital near Yekaterinburg July 19. Regional health authorities said the illness had been caused by the Legionella pneumophillia virus, a strain of pneumonia first registered in the United States 30 years ago.
Health officials also said earlier six people remained in intensive care, and 25 people were well enough to be discharged.
Local health experts are studying the illness and the possibility of its further spread, while prosecutors have launched an inquiry into the deaths.
Most apartment blocks in Russia receive hot water via mains supply, directly from thermal plants, rather than from water heaters installed in the buildings themselves. The supply is shut down for a few weeks each summer for maintenance work.
