The number of confirmed Legionnaires' disease cases in Barrow-in-Furness has risen by six to 45 on Sunday, with test results awaited on dozens more.

Sixteen more people were admitted to hospital in Cumbria overnight with suspected Legionnaires' disease, and a further five taken in on Sunday.

Public health officials are increasingly confident that a faulty air conditioning plant at a council-run theatre complex - called Forum 28 - is the source of the outbreak.

There are 74 people being treated in hospital for the disease. Fifteen people are being treated in intensive care and four are giving cause for concern after developing lung or kidney complications.

Within the next five to ten days we will continue to see cases

Ian Cumming

The council has confirmed maintenance records for the cooling plant at Forum 28 are at the heart of the investigation into the outbreak.

For nearly a month an air vent sprayed water droplets containing the bacterium into a busy alleyway used by shoppers to reach the town's main bus stops.

The regional director of public health, Professor John Ashton, has said: "Looking at the maintenance and servicing of the plant, it identifies the fact that for a long time the environmental health side of things has tended not to be as strong as it should be."

'Isolated case'

But he added the building no longer posed a threat.

Speaking on Sunday to BBC News, Ian Cumming, chief executive of Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Trust, said laboratory staff were working flat-out to process test results and more were expected soon.

It was too early to say the outbreak was under control, he went on. The incubation period for the disease is about 10 days.

"Certainly there's a degree of confidence that the source, or the most likely source of this outbreak has been identified and been closed down.

"Therefore within the next five to ten days we will continue to see cases and then beyond that, assuming we have identified the source, there should be no further cases."

Key disease facts

Legionnaires' is a form of pneumonia It is caused by bacteria in water systems, like cooling towers It cannot be passed by one person to another It is fatal in 5% to 15% of cases In 1998, 226 cases were reported in England and Wales. Twenty-five people died

More than 100 infections in total are expected, although the number of people receiving hospital treatment will fluctuate and some of those reporting symptoms of the disease are expected to be given the all clear.

On Saturday three children suspected of having the disease - a five-year-old girl, a boy of eight and a boy in his early teens - were given the all-clear.

The age of those being treated ranges from 22 to 86.

It also appears the 89-year-old man who died may have been an isolated case.

He was a patient at a nursing home and was not in contact with Forum 28 in the last month.

Although the area hospital trust has stressed it can cope with the outbreak, the high number of people being treated has put pressure on bed spaces at Furness General Hospital.

Extra staff

Routine operations there have already been cancelled for three days next week to free-up capacity.

And of those people in intensive care, seven have been transferred to hospitals in Lancashire.

Extra doctors have also been brought in to help GPs handle their increased workload.

Vicars in churches across the town are offering prayers on Sunday for the ill and the hundreds currently working day and night to care for them.

Rural Dean of Barrow, Canon Peter Mann, said: "People in the town are mystified and worried but I am quite reassured now that the source has been found."

Those worried they may have caught the disease are being urged to consult their local GP, call NHS Direct or to ring the hospital on 01229 491222.