Miami-Dade health officials are asking anyone who stayed at downtown Miami's luxury Epic Hotel recently, who now might have symptoms of Legionnaire's disease, to contact the department and their personal physicians.

“Symptoms include cough, fever with or without chills, greenish or yellow sputum, headaches and body aches,” said Dr Vincent Conte, the health department's chief epidemiologist.

Legionnaire's disease claims between 8,000 and 15,000 lives each year, Conte said.

One tourist died in October, and two others were made sick in November, all from Legionnaire's disease, Conte said. The two sickened have fully recovered, he said. He declined to divulge their details.

“It appears the hotel installed a filtration system using activated carbon that strips the chlorine out of the water from the county, making it susceptible to waterborne diseases,” said Samir Elmir, the department's director of environmental health and engineering.

“We're looking at hot and cold showers, the cooling tower, the plumbing system. Their levels of chlorine were significantly below what is provided by county water. We're still trying to put together the pieces of a puzzle,” Elmir said.

County health director Lillian Rivera declined to name the manufacturer of the filtration system, citing the ongoing investigation.

The hotel has relocated all guests and residents, and also all events scheduled in the building in coming days. Weddings set for Friday and Saturday have been relocated, he said.

Doctors with the Miami-Dade County Health Department said there was no cause for widespread alarm because Legionnaires’ disease does not spread from person to person.