A middle-aged man who earlier this month was diagnosed with Legionnaires Disease is slowly recovering, nursing staff at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital yesterday told The Royal Gazette .

Health authorities confirmed the man -- employed as a janitor at Hamilton Parish's Francis Patton Primary School -- was carrying the legionella bacterium less than a week before school was set to resume, setting off concern he may have acquired the disease there.

But analysis of the school's water system, faucettes and showerheads failed to turn up a trace of the bug, said Chief Environmental Officer Estlyn Harvey.

Health officials, however, were not taking chances.

"We've taken all the precautions. Chlorinated the water, checked and cleaned all the shower heads, and cleaned the water tank,'' she said.

Meanwhile, nurse epidemiologist Rhonda Daniels said health authorities still haven't determined the source of the bacterium.

Preliminary water samples from the school and the man's house have tested negative for the bacterium; further samples have been sent to the US for more extensive testing and the results have not yet come back, she said.

The legionella bacterium is spread by aerosolisation of water and commonly found in a number of outlet sources such as showerheads, hot tubs, jacuzzies, and faucettes.

If caught in its early stages it can be successfully treated with the anti-biotic erythromycin.

Persons with a compromised immune system are more susceptible to the disease.