A patient of a Glasgow hospital is concerned about returning to the building following the deaths of two people who contracted an infection linked to pigeon droppings.

A probe was launched into the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital after details of the Cryptococcus cases emerged on Saturday.

Control measures were immediately put in place but it is still not clear exactly which area of the hospital was affected and the cause.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said one of those who had contracted the infection died of other causes but there are still investigations into what caused the death of the second patient.

Graeme Fyffe told STV News how he is required to visit the hospital twice a year for appointments relating to his Multiple Sclerosis.

At one of his visits during last March last year, his wife, Sophie Fyffe, noticed an unusual amount of pigeons surrounding the grounds.

Knowing of the potential health risks posed by their droppings, she wrote to the Scottish Government to complain.

Mrs Fyffe said: "When I was waiting for Graeme to have his MRI scan, I noticed that there was a lot of pigeons around the air conditioning units and I noticed there was a lot of bird excrement.

"That raised concerns over the fact that this could go through the air vent system, into the hospital, where people could breathe it in.

"So I thought it'd be best to report it and see what the hospital would do to resolve this issue."

Mr Fyffe added: "I couldn't believe it, I'd never seen anything like that in a hospital before.

"There were pigeons everywhere.

"They were roosting, cooing and breeding and there was mess getting left everywhere.

"You could see this all around the air conditioning in the courtyard.

"I was concerned about it, that's why we came home and wrote a letter to the health minister, to express our concerns.

"The hospital is full of sick and vulnerable people, including people like myself, to be breathing in bird droppings, the fumes from that, it isn't good."

Mrs Fyffe said she is yet to receive a response from the health minister regarding the issue.

She said: "We raised issues regarding the amount of pigeons that were roosting around the air vent system.

"We asked the health board to look into this but we never heard back."

Speaking of the recent Cryptococcus cases at the hospital, Mrs Fyffe said: "It's shocking, this could have been prevented.

"When I saw this, I just couldn't believe what I was reading."

Mr Fyffe claimed he now has concerns about returning to the building.

He said: "I was very concerned for myself, because of my MS my autoimmune system suffers, I could pick up any sort of virus.

"I was concerned I could get ill by visiting the Queen Elizabeth.

"I don't have a lot of faith in the health board to resolve this issue.

"I'm dumbfounded that nine months down the line, managers, staff, patients, all visit this area - they must have seen this.

"Yet nothing has been done."

Mrs Fyffe added: "In our opinion these cases could have been prevented."

It's not the first time the problem has been noticed at the hospital building.

A freedom of information request from 2018 shows the board had been aware of the issue for several years.

Questions are now being asked as to why more hasn't been done to prevent these recent cases.

Alex Neil, MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, said: "I think the health board needs to be much more comprehensive in its information and much straighter with people.

"For example, on Saturday they were telling the press that the affected patients were doing OK and it turned out later on that the two patients had died previously so there's a lot of confusion.

"I think the confusion has been created by the health board because they haven't come out and told people the full story.

"I think if they do that, people will have a much better understanding and their concerns will be substantially reduced assuming they have done the right thing."

Scottish Conservative MSP Annie Wells said: "I think this is absolutely an alarming revelation.

"There must be great concern there for staff, patients and the general public.

"These revelations have came on the back of other things happening at that hospital, the Queen Elizabeth is a new hospital, quite frankly this shouldn't be happening."

Health secretary Jeane Freeman said: "Our primary concern, and that of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, remains the safety and wellbeing of the patients and their families at the hospital.

"I am meeting with the health board's chief executive and senior clinicians tomorrow to discuss this incident and the necessary next steps and will be joined by the Chief Nursing Officer and the National Clinical Director. I also hope to speak with patients and family members who have concerns if they wish.

"The health board has given assurances of their continued and total commitment to delivering the best medical and nursing care in a safe environment.

"The board is keeping patients and their families updated on an on-going basis and will ensure that patients and their families have the opportunity to discuss any remaining concerns with the senior clinical team."

The incidents will be brought up in parliament on Tuesday and NHSGGC has vowed to keep the public better informed.

A statement from the health board said: "The investigation remains ongoing into the cause of two isolated cases of Cryptococcus at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

"At present, the clinical, management and infection control teams are focused on ensuring a safe clinical environment for our patients and are actively managing this incident.

"These two cases of infection were identified in December and an Incident Management Team was formed.

"A likely source was identified and dealt with immediately."

Dr Jennifer Armstrong, Medical Director, said: "We believe the possible and likely source is one of the machine rooms which is high up in the Queen Elizabeth and we are undergoing testing at the moment to identify the sources through laboratories and that takes a few weeks to come back.

"But we didn't wait for that to come back, we had a high index of suspicion and therefore we started the patients immediately on the anti-fungal medication and also put in place control measures for the likely source of that."