Deadly Disease Not a Guest at SoBe Hotel: County

Guests were safe from Legionnaire's disease at EPIC

For the EPIC Hotel, the county's declaration Wednesday was far more than epic news.

Health officials said a guest who died from Legionnaires' disease after staying at a luxury Miami hotel did not contract the disease there.

Dr. Vincent Conte, with the Miami-Dade County Health Department, said that the EPIC Hotel was not the source of the fatal strain. Conte would not say where the victim contracted the disease, only that there was no significant public health risk.

About 300 guests were moved from the building on Saturday, after the former guest died in October and two others fell ill in November. It's not yet clear where the two others contracted the illness.

But that doesn't necessarily mean EPIC gets a clean bill of health.

Investigators have found that the hotel installed a water filter powerful enough to remove chlorine from its city-supplied water, encouraging bacterial growth.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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