Three ASTICAN Workers Infected on a Transocean Platform

ASTICAN has reported today the existence of three cases, in the last week, of pulmonary infection (pneumonia) caused by pneumococcus, in personnel working on the drilling vessel “Deepwater Corcovado,” owned by the company Transocean, which is docked at the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where ASTICAN is carrying out repair and maintenance work. The causative agent, known as Pneumococcus (pneumococcal streptococcus), is a bacterium that resides in the human respiratory tract and causes pulmonary infection and, generally, other mild ailments such as sinusitis and otitis.

"The transmission of the bacteria occurs from person to person, there are no external sources, and therefore, work on the platform and/or in its tanks has not been a contributing factor to the contagion of these three workers," states the shipyard's management in a statement published by the digital outlet puertoscanarias.com.

ASTICAN has contacted External Health to coordinate the established protocols for these cases and states that "since the three affected workers are being treated on the island and no further cases of pneumonia have been reported, the control and prevention activities for the outbreak are maintained among the hospitals with the Health Department."

The three ASTICAN workers remain convalescent due to the aforementioned conditions, two of whom are hospitalized and the third has been discharged. Both ASTICAN and Transocean are investigating the causes and monitoring the affected individuals, and since yesterday, repair and maintenance work on the mentioned vessel has resumed.

Photo: provided