Outbreak in Fort Bend: Health and Human Services monitoring Fulshear community after Legionnaires' disease cases

Fort Bend County Health and Human Services is monitoring an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease at Bonterra at Cross Creek Ranch, a 55-and-older community in Fulshear, Texas, according to reporting from ABC13 Houston and Community Impact. The county confirmed four cases and three probable cases, all presumptively linked to residents who used the community's Bonterra Clubhouse.

The health department was first notified of a potential case on June 22, per ABC13's reporting. The clubhouse facilities were closed while officials conducted on-site inspections and investigated the source of the outbreak.

Reporting did not specify at the time whether the source of contamination -- such as a hot tub or other water feature at the clubhouse -- had been definitively identified, only that health officials were investigating water sources tied to the facility. KHOU's reporting added that the clubhouse pool was closed on June 28, with the rest of the clubhouse following on June 29, as the investigation into the water source continued.

How Legionnaires' disease spreads

Legionnaires' disease is contracted by breathing in water droplets contaminated with Legionella bacteria, which can proliferate in hot tubs, cooling towers and other standing-water systems; it does not spread person to person, according to the reporting. The disease presents as a form of pneumonia, with symptoms that can include cough, fever, muscle aches, shortness of breath, headache, chills, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and, in some cases, confusion or other mental changes, according to reporting citing UT Physicians.

The county's response

Remain closed while the on-site inspections and investigations continue in order to mitigate potential health risks associated with this localized outbreak.

That description of the clubhouse closure came from Kaila Williams, Fort Bend County's health communications director, per ABC13's reporting. The county advised residents experiencing symptoms to immediately consult a health care provider and said updates would be shared with Bonterra residents through community management. Despite that assurance, KHOU reported that residents at Bonterra at Cross Creek Ranch said they were frustrated with what they described as a lack of communication from the county health department about the outbreak's progress.

What followed

One of the confirmed cases was Antoinette Marinchak, 76, who was diagnosed with Legionnaires' disease on June 12, 2023, and died on June 28, according to Houston Public Media's reporting. Her children later filed a lawsuit claiming the owners, operators and developers of Bonterra at Cross Creek Ranch were negligent in allowing Legionella bacteria to form at the community clubhouse, seeking more than $1 million in damages, per Houston Public Media.

The full findings of that litigation are a separate matter from the county's initial July 2023 investigation and were not detailed in the sources reviewed for this account, including whether Marinchak's death was among the cases the county's own confirmed or probable count included.

US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by ABC13 Houston, Community Impact and Houston Public Media. It restores a story originally published on this site in July 2023; figures are as reported at the time.