Ex-paratrooper hit by legionnaires disease

He survived the Falklands War and a tour of duty in Northern Ireland. But Richard Morrell thought he'd finally met his match when he caught legionnaires disease through a bag of potting mix in May.

The illness nearly killed the Henderson resident who was hospitalised with symptoms while on holiday with his wife in the Coromandel.

"They told me afterwards that it was touch and go for a while there," he says.

Legionnaires disease is spread through air conditioning systems but can also be picked up by anyone who inhales dust from contaminated soil, compost and potting mix.

Mr Morrell, who served with the British Army during the 1980s, says his bout started with the symptoms generally associated with the flu or sinusitis.

"During that whole time I was coughing up phlegm," the customs officer says.

"I was also smoking then but it wasn?t like a smoker's cough."

Mr Morrell went to his doctor, who prescribed antibiotics.

A few days later he woke up with a temperature.

He was given more antibiotics before heading away with his wife on a holiday to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary.

"I started feeling pretty rough on the way," he says.

"It just got worse and worse, so my wife called the doctor in the Coromandel and he said he thought I might have pneumonia."

Mr Morrell was admitted to Thames Hospital where pneumonia was confirmed after chest x-rays.

He was transferred to Waitakere Hospital the next day as his condition deteriorated.

Mr Morrell, who is still short of breath and not working, underwent a number of blood tests before he was finally discharged a few days later.

He?d lost 7kg through the course of his confinement.

"I think it was about two weeks later I got a phone call from the consultant at Waitakere who told me that the blood tests showed traces off legionella," he says.

"It came as a total shock."

Tests were carried out in Mr Morrell's house and a bag of potting mix was found to be the source.

"The doctor asked me if I'd read the warning on the bag and I said: 'What warning?'," he says.

"I served with the British paratroop regiment for 12 years.

"I've been shot at, bombed and I survived the Falklands War - but I was almost killed planting some pretty flowers."

source;www.stuff.co.nz