A MUNITIONS factory where a worker was found with Legionnaires' Disease has been given the all-clear.

The Royal Ordnance factory in Birtley, near Chester-le-Street, was forced to shut a shell plant after it was confirmed that a member of staff had the potentially deadly bug.

Health experts examined the building last Thursday and have more or less ruled out the idea that the man caught the disease while at work.

A spokeswoman for the Health and Safety Executive said: "There is absolutely nothing to suggest that he picked up the disease from the Royal Ordnance factory."

The man, aged 60, who is from Springwell Village, Washington, was taken to hospital on February 23 believed to be suffering from bronchial pneumonia. But when doctors finally diagnosed Legionnaires' Disease on Wednesday, March 3, management at the factory were alerted.

Fast treatment ensured the man made a rapid recovery and he was released from hospital last Friday.

Marilyn Swann, communications manager for defence giant BAE Systems, which runs the factory, said: "We can confirm that an employee was diagnosed with Legionnaires' Disease.

"It is uncertain at this stage how he contracted the disease and no other employee has shown any signs or symptoms of the illness.

"The health and safety of our employees is paramount and as a precaution the area where the man works has been temporarily shut down. We cannot at this stage say how the man contracted the disease and it is, of course, possible that he could have contracted it elsewhere."

A health team is examining the man's home and looking at any other possibilities of where he contracted the bug.

Legionnaires' Disease is passed through tiny water droplets in the air and can be contracted from air conditioning or shower heads.

Dr Bashir Malik, consultant for communicable disease control at Gateshead Primary Care Trust, said: "This is not an outbreak and there is no reason to panic. We do get isolated cases, once or twice a year.

"We take every case very seriously and do our utmost to find out where it came from. We cannot put our finger yet on where exactly this latest victim contracted the illness.

"In the majority of single cases, it is extremely difficult to identify where the patient contracted the disease, so we may never know."