Legionnaire's Disease Strikes Guests at Luxury Hotel

(Dec. 14) -- A European tourist died and two other guests of a luxury hotel in Miami have become ill with Legionnaire's disease in the past three months, reported the Miami Herald.

Health officials think the water at the Epic Hotel is the problem, and they issued an advisory to the hotel's guests on Friday, the paper said. About 300 people had to be relocated to avoid contracting the disease, which is a serious form of pneumonia.

The man who died had been staying at Epic before leaving for a cruise in September, and the report of his death just surfaced. A second person became ill in November, and a third came down with the illness this month, the Herald reported.

"The hotel is examining and doing everything it needs to do to fix this matter. The hotel is working as closely as possible with health department,'' said Bruce Rubin, a hotel spokesman.