93 Domainers Sick from Domainfest Playboy Mansion Party

[Adam Dicker]

Please join me in wishing them all a speedy recovery from what is has become a horrible situation.
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Details below:

CDC & L.A. County Dept. of Public Health Now Investigating Illness That Felled Dozens of Domainers - N.Y. Post Looking Into It Too - Known Sick List Nearing 100

I was hoping this story would be over by now and that everyone who fell ill shortly after returning from last week's DOMAINest Global conference would have recovered and gotten back to work. The good news is, a lot of people have gotten much better today (including my wife Diana) after getting antibiotics from their doctors. The bad news is that others are still having a very rough time. The sickest victim we are currently aware of - and the only one diagnosed with full blown pneumonia - Markus Schnermann - left a note on Nico Zeifang's Post-Conference Sick List at Facebook today saying, "I still struggle with my pneumonia, waves of fever and very painful coughing. Besides I lost 15 pounds this week. I learned about Legionellosis today and told my doc - I will see a result of tests on Monday but she changed my medication already to cover this bacteria as well."

Our post Thursday about lab tests at a Swedish hospital confirming that a conference attendee had contracted legionellosis caught the attention of the New York Post who began looking into the story today. This evening I also had a long talk with a Center for Disease Control doctor based in Los Angeles who has also started an investigation in conjunction with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. They want to identify the attendees, determine how many fell ill and make sure they have received necessary treatment and are recovering. If you were a DOMAINfest, expect to receive a survey questionnaire from the CDC soon - fill it out and return it to them as quickly as possible so they can get a handle on the current situation.

As of today I have compiled a list of 93 individuals who reported falling ill with respiratory problems, high fever and other acute flu-like symptoms soon after the show. Those people notified me directly or left their names on the sick list Nico started on his Facebook page, or in the comments section of a Sunday post at DomainShane.com (where Shane Cultra, one of those who fell ill, published the first public post I saw about the problem).

We have only heard from people within the domain business who know about our publications or Facebook pages. Many other sectors were represented at DOMAINfest who likely are not even aware of this conversation of that so many others are sick, so I suspect the number that fell ill is at least twice the number we know about. Elliot Silver (who was also sick) told me he was especially worried about the many young women who were bused to the Playboy Mansion to serve as hostesses for the closing night party Thursday, Feb 3. If the infection occurred there as many suspect - how many of those volunteers fell ill and how many of them know they might have a bacterial infection rather than flu? Fortunately the CDC/LA Dept. of Health will try to find them and check on their status.

In another development, some who fell ill and were given antibiotics were called back to their doctors today for blood tests, in light of the report of a Legionellosis diagnosis. So far I haven't heard of any test results back from U.S. doctors but we should hear of some soon.

Some said they initially had a hard time getting their doctors to take the possibility of Legionellosis seriously. With government health officials now involved, I'm hopeful that will no longer be an issue for patients - if you talk to your doctor, let them know the circumstances are real.

Source: http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/low...s/20110211.htm

[Gerry]

Legionellosis is some serious stuff.

[ninjadomain]

Wishing everyone a get well recovery!

Seems without everyone.

[TheLegendaryJP]

Wikipedia explination of the disease... cuious that warm water is a breeding ground, nothing like that at the mansion is there?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legionellosis

[Adam Dicker]

Wikipedia explination of the disease... cuious that warm water is a breeding ground, nothing like that at the mansion is there?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legionellosis

Apparently there was a fan blowing air on the whole tent.

-=DCG=-

[TheLegendaryJP]

Apparently there was a fan blowing air on the whole tent.

-=DCG=-

I see but the air it pushed would had to have contained the bacteria from a source like water ( fountain, pool, hot tub etc. ) Anyone know if a water source was near by?

[Gerry]

Many heavy duty, large capacity air conditioning units are to blame. It is the water running over the coils or collecting for cooling/evaporation that is the breeding ground.

A massive place like the Playboy mansion most likely would have these types of systems.

Add into this heated pools, spas, steam, air, fans...

[south]

Sounds like Playboy might owe some favors....

[Adam Dicker]

New York Post picked up the story here:

http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/outb...nvCbDHE1F33TEJ

-=DFG=-

[Gerry]

Its an interesting story and it will be become clearer if the Playboy Mansion is the only thing in common with every one.

Its not just as cut and dry as blaming a fog machine.

Other places need to be looked at such as the conference room location and hotel(s) that every one stayed at.

These massive heating and cooling systems that use water to circulate the cool and hot air are surprisingly still used by countless entities.

The Health Department along with the CDC will find the culprit because this is a serious illness, it is a public health risk and a preventable illness. That's why you will see many agencies trying to find the source and they will leave nothing unchecked. This is not a "bug" that people caught. If it is truly Legionaires Disease, it is serious business, it is contagious, it can be deadly, but...like I said - it is preventable. It exists because of poorly maintained or faulty equipment.

I hope every one does recover from this.

[JuniperPark]

Holy crap... I went to this a couple of years ago and considered going again this year!

They've change the setup each of the 3 times I've been there (for different types of events), but usually part of the grounds are covered by a large and very sturdy tent. I don't recall fans or A/C in the tents, especially in January.

People generally aren't allowed in the main mansion at all, and most people just do a quick visit/tour of the game room and grounds.

Then there is famous grotto, basically 6 hot tubs in a man-made cave so there is a lot of steam. This wasn't used much at the domainers conference by was wild and crazy at other parties. Most people just go in for a quick look and leave.

Food seems to be prepared by a special kitchen in the bottom of the mansion, and they do this all of the time... putting our a full buffet for 200-300 people is common for them, so they should be good at food safety.

BUT.... the "zoo" is very close the party/food tent, and there usually is a staff member there to let you hold one of the parrots or talk about the monkeys and peacocks over there. The peacocks sometimes roam around free. I'm wondering if there is a zoo animal connection - maybe a cook went out there on break.

[Gerry]

Now picked up and on page one of MSNBC

Playboy Mansion visitors come down with mystery illness
Health officials investigate dozens of reports of respiratory ailment after Feb. 3 event

[Raider]

Many heavy duty, large capacity air conditioning units are to blame. It is the water running over the coils or collecting for cooling/evaporation that is the breeding ground.

More ignorance, more trying to make people think you know what your talking about when you clearly don't....

Your describing a Swamp cooler here, NOT a Air Conditioning unit that uses Refrigerant.

When they use the phrase "Warm air-conditioning systems" their referring to a evaporative cooler, another word for Swamp Cooler.

Your trailer might use a swamp cooler and that's fine, but a Mansion would never use them to cool the inside because they add humidity significantly, which would destroy the woodwork and furnishings inside the home, not to mention increase the likelihood of mold and mildew.

A massive place like the Playboy mansion most likely would have these types of systems.

Is that a fact? How deep did you have to reach inside to pull that one out of your ***?

Here we have Hugh Hefner, Muliti-Millionaire living in Holmby Hills, one of the most priciest and prestigious area's in Los Angeles County. His Mansion alone is valued at $54 Million Dollars, and DocCom, Mr. know it all Domainer from the stix in North Carolina want us to believe that Hugh Hefner is using $300 swamp coolers on his roof to cool his Mansion.



This was my biggest laugh of the day.


I think the use of "foggers" is a far more plausible explanation for what happened here.

[myst woman]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...+Local+News%29

latimes got around to mentioning it.

[Adam Dicker]

On Yahoo News as well.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/los-angeles...12245-137.html

-=DCG=-

[Adam Dicker]

I am not impressed by some of the doorknobs trying to get free publicity from this tragedy.

-=DCG=-

[JuniperPark]

and now, you've hit the big time... TMZ!

http://www.tmz.com/2010/09/09/playbo...sease-control/

[Gerry]

More ignorance

Wow, you really need to educate yourself on the root cause as well as why the disease is called Legionaires. Look it up, post it here, post the cause, post the source, post the findings, post what system was used to cool the hotel.

Here is one site called OSHA defining how this is transmitted and the breeding grounds for legionaires disease:

COMMON SOURCES OF CONTAMINATED WATER.

1. Water sources that frequently provide optimal conditions for growth of the organisms include:

* cooling towers, evaporative condensers, and fluid coolers that use evaporation to reject heat. These include many industrial processes that use water to remove excess heat;
* domestic hot-water systems with water heaters that operate below 60°C (140°F) and deliver water to taps below 50°C (122°F);
* humidifiers and decorative fountains that create a water spray and use water at temperatures favorable to growth;
* spas and whirlpools;
* dental water lines, which are frequently maintained at temperature above 20°C (68°F) and sometimes as warm as 37°C (98.6°F) for patient comfort; and
* other sources including stagnant water in fire sprinkler systems and warm water for eye washes and safety showers.

That is why it is important to look at all potential sources and all facilities that these people had in common. Conference room? Hotel? Spa? Fogger?

There is not one single item that will not be looked at, nothing will be overlooked, and everything that these people came in contact with will be isolated and cultured to see if these bacteria are present.

Educate yourself and then come back and educate the rest of us.

We're all on the edge of our seats to hear the results of your "research".

[Adam Dicker]

A Yahoo video:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/video/us-22...-24176141.html

-=DCG=-

[DaddyHalbucks]

It will be interesting to see what the CDC investigation discovers..