A school has been hit with a bacteria which causes legionnaires disease for the second time in under a year.

Patcham High School, in Ladies Mile Road, Patcham, Brighton, has closed its swimming pool after the legionella bug was discovered in its showers.

The school is run under a controversial Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract by engineering firm Jarvis.

People catch legionnaires' disease by inhaling small droplets of water suspended in the air which contain the legionella bacterium.

The bug was discovered after routine testing by firm Jarvis and is the second time it has been found at the school.

In May 2006 the school's pool was closed after it was discovered in the showers.

Steve Gorringe, 59, of Bear Road, Brighton, whose 13-year-old granddaughter is a pupil at the school, said: "It is bad enough to get it once but twice is disgusting.

"To be honest I don't think they are taking the problem seriously enough. They have had to get rid of it once and I don't think they are doing it properly."

Diane Bonner, finance manager at the school, said: "There is a very small trace of the Legionella bacteria in the swimming pool showers and due to health and safety, if the showers aren't available then the pool has to close."

She added the pool would be closed for at least two weeks while cleaning and further testing is carried out and that the source of the bug had been identified in the pipes and that it was down to a "dead end".

She said: "We think it was the same area as it was last time and they are moving the pipework."

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: "The legionella bacteria is extremely common in the water supplies of many buildings and water supplies and generally presents no danger unless the water is atomised into a fine spray and inhaled.

"The showers would have been closed as a precaution and parents can be very clear that children are not in danger."

He added: "It needn't be that there was anything wrong with the installation that needed fixing. It could simply be to do with how frequently they're used and flushed out. In any case we have to assume that the bacteria could recur in any system and that's why they're regularly tested."

Jarvis took over the running of Patcham High School along with Dorothy Stringer and Varndean in 2002 in a 25-year deal with the council. Under the terms of the contract the three schools via the council pay the firm for their maintenance and cleaning.

Last year Jarvis admitted it had fallen short in its contractual obligations to deliver services and paid out £500,000 to the three schools for the failure.