St Andrews students make urgent appeal video after outbreak of Legionella

An outbreak of Legionella, a group of bacteria known to cause pneumonia-type illness, was confirmed in St Salvators and Gannochy halls of residence this week.

Students have reacted to the news by creating a ‘Save a Salvatorian’ appeal.

The ‘appeal’ aims “to give Highland Spring to the the poor students of St Andrews University’s St Salvator’s Hall during the Legionella outbreak in November 2020”.

The video urges viewers to donate “just £1 a day” to provide Highland Spring water to students in the affected halls.

It parodies urgent appeal videos with examples of students unable to drink, shower or wash up.

The parody asks viewers to “donate now at www.bourgeoisie.com to save a Salvatorian”.

This comes after the university emailed students to announce that “as part of routine testing” they “detected the presence of Legionella bacteria in some parts of the water system supplying St Salvator’s Hall and Gannochy”.

The email goes on to say: “Legionella at low levels is not uncommon in water supplies, which is why we test for it regularly”.

Legionella can lead to Legionnaires’ Disease which has symptoms of cough, shortness of breath, high fever, muscle pains, and headaches. In more serious cases symptoms include nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea.

The university said they believe the risk to residents of Sallies and Gannochy is very low.

“We are acting quickly and comprehensively to flush and clean the water system in your residences,” they said.

The university press office told the St Andrews Tab: “Our staff have worked round the clock over the weekend to disinfect the water systems.

“We have provided bottled water to all our residents and put temporary measures in place to provide shower facilities close by. Residents have been kept closely informed of all the actions we are taking.

“The work in Gannochy is now complete and the facilities returned to normal. We anticipate that the work in Sallies will be complete by Tuesday evening.”

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