Legionnaires' death after trip abroad

Peter Taylor was a musician with the morris group

A man from Kent has died from Legionnaires' disease after returning from a trip to France and Belgium with a morris dancing group.

Peter Taylor, 63, who lived near Folkestone, was admitted to hospital last Thursday with the disease, after arriving home from the trip at the beginning of the month.

The retired primary school teacher, who was married, died at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford on Sunday.

Two other members of the East Kent Morris Dancers, who were on the tour, are believed to have suffered mild symptoms of the disease.

He was a musician with the East Kent Morris Dancers and had been for the last 25 years, nearly 30

East Kent Morris Dancers spokesman

All three stayed overnight at a hotel near Lille, which health officials believe may be the source of the infection.

Dr Mathi Chandrakumar, of the Kent and Medway Infection Control Unit, said: "There is no need for people to worry because Legionnaires' disease is not passed from person to person.

"It can only be caught by inhaling very fine aerosol droplets of infected water from, for example, the steam of a hot shower."

A spokesman for the East Kent Morris Dancers said the musician with the group would be missed "enormously".

He said health officials had informed the French authorities about the death and they were in the process of checking the hotel.

Tests were also being carried out on the two other members of the group to confirm whether or not they did have the disease, he said.