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State Presses McLaren Hospital In Flint On Legionnaires'

FLINT, Mich. (AP) - State health officials say they're following up on 17 cases of Legionnaires' disease last year in Genesee County after winning a legal dispute over access to records.

The Department of Health and Human Services sent a letter Wednesday to Flint-area health officials and McLaren Hospital. The state wants to know more about what the hospital is doing to strengthen its water system.

Two Legionnaires' cases from 2016 have been linked to McLaren. The patients survived.

McLaren spokeswoman Rosemary Plorin says the state health department has a "fixation" with the hospital and instead should focus on Flint's water. Plorin says inspectors from another department gave the hospital's water system high marks in September.

The Michigan appeals court recently threw out orders that prohibited McLaren and local health officials from talking to the state about Legionnaires' disease and Flint water.

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