One woman has died and another is in hospital after being struck down by legionnaire's disease. A 62-year-old woman from the Redditch area, who has not been named, died in the town's Alexandra Hospital on Wednesday night. She was the second patient to be diagnosed with the disease after being admitted on August 31 with other medical problems. The other victim is a 67-year-old woman, also from Redditch, who was admitted to the hospital on August 18. She was said to be poorly but improving. Health chiefs last night said there was no evidence the cases were linked. A spokeswoman said investigations were continuing to dis-cover potential sources for the disease and samples were being taken from across Redditch town centre. Experts from Herefordshire have been drafted in to help collect samples as quickly as possible. In a joint statement from the Health Protection Agency, Redditch Borough Council and the Redditch and Bromsgrove Primary Care Trust, Dr David Kirrage, director of the Health Protection Agency in Hereford and Worcester, said the symptoms of legionnaire's disease were fever and flu-like illness that may lead to shortness of breath and pneumonia. "It is not passed from person to person but anyone who is concerned should ring NHS Direct or contact their GP," he added. A HPA spokeswoman said: "We do not know yet whether there are any links. We have got to take very detailed histories from their families to determine whether there is anything in common. "We are taking samples of the domestic water supplies in both women's homes and trying to determine their movements during the 14 days before they presented symptoms to identify possible sources." The disease is airborne and caused by the legionella bug which is spread through the air in water droplets. Sources are usually linked to water cooling systems and there are about 200 cases reported every year in England. It usually affects people over 50 years of age and is more common among men. Early symptoms include muscle aches, tiredness, headaches, dry cough and fever. Diarrhoea and confusion may develop. | 
