TWO men are in intensive care fighting Legionnaires’ disease while a third is also in hospital connected to a Gladstone Park outbreak.

The Department of Health issued a warning over the outbreak today after all three men became ill following visits to the Airport West and Gladstone Park Shopping Centres between April 20 and 26.

Health officers are now investigating cooling towers in the northern suburb area to determine the cause of the outbreak.

Victoria’s deputy chief health officer Dr Brett Sutton said the three ill men are all aged in their 60s and 70s.

After the first case emerged on Saturday, two more were confirmed yesterday, establishing a link to the Gladstone Park area.

“My message to people who have visited the Gladstone Park area between mid-April and earlier this week and who may be suffering from pneumonia or flu-like symptoms is to visit their GP who will assess the need for testing for Legionnaires’ disease,” Dr Sutton said.

“The Department is continuing to investigate these cases to seek to identify the possible source of their illness.”

Department teams are taking samples from nine cooling tower systems in the Gladstone Park areas today while also ensuring each is disinfected to make them safe.

Symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease typically evolve over three or four days, including flu-like symptoms such as headache, fever, chills, muscle aches and pains, followed by respiratory problems and pneumonia.

Because the onset of illness can take up to 10 days after initial contact with the bacteria, new cases of the current outbreak may occur up to mid-May.

There were 67 cases of legionnaires disease notified in 2017, a small increase on the 40-50 cases confirmed in previous years.