He probably got it in the grotto.

Noah Lemas, who lives in Bend, visited the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles as part of a conference earlier this month.

Several days later, he said, he came down with a respiratory illness that sickened him for weeks.

Now he’s part of a far-reaching investigation into why about 200 people who also attended the event at the mansion became ill shortly after the party. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, which is leading the investigation, is narrowing in on some of the more humid areas of the mansion, including a fog machine and the grotto, Hugh Hefner’s legendary man-made cave.

Lemas, 41, is director of business development for the Bend-based search engine optimization firm AudetteMedia. He went to the DOMAINfest Global Conference for Internet entrepreneurs earlier this month. The conference was based at a hotel in Santa Monica; the Playboy Mansion event was an annual autism fundraiser sponsored by conference organizers.

About two days after the Playboy party, Lemas began to feel ill, but thought it was just a common winter bug. However, the illness persisted for weeks.

When Lemas began reading news reports of other conference attendees getting sickand received a letter from Los Angeles’ health department suggesting that he be tested for a number of illnesses, he knew it wasn’t just a regular bug.

The health department urged Lemas to get tested for a bacterium called Legionella. That test was done by the Deschutes County Health Department, Lemas said. Patty Thomas, communicable disease coordinator for Deschutes County, confirmed the test had been done and said results likely won’t be available for at least a week.

The Legionella bacterium, often found in water or water mist, can cause Legionnaires’ disease, a potentially fatal respiratory illness; and Pontiac fever, a similar but less serious illness.

Legionnaires’ disease gained notoriety in 1976, when an outbreak sickened people attending an American Legion convention.

The disease is contracted by inhaling contaminated water mist or by drinking contaminated water. It cannot be passed from person to person. Thomas said she was not worried that there was a risk to anyone else in Central Oregon.

Lemas said the illness made him sicker than he had ever been. “It was pretty much debilitating.”

He said he had high fevers, chills, headaches, muscle aches and a relentless cough. “I was coughing so much I felt like I was going to throw up razor blades.”

Lemas was treated at Bend Memorial Clinic with antibiotics. He said he started feeling better shortly after beginning treatment.

Though there’s still no firm proof that the disease Lemas caught originated at the Playboy mansion’s grotto, that so far seems the most likely source.

Still, the Los Angeles County Health Department has been cautious about blaming the illness on any one source.

The department said in a statement released Thursday that it had found Legionella bacteria in a “water source at the Playboy Mansion.” But, the department said, because the bacteria are commonly found in “moist or wet environments,” their finding does not confirm the bacteria caused the illness.

The health department did not say specifically in which part of the Playboy Mansion it found the bacteria.

However, in a survey sent to people who had recently worked at the Playboy Mansion and obtained by the website TMZ.com, workers were asked if they had worked near the grotto or a fog machine.

Though the source of the survey is not identified on the document, respondents are told that, based on their answers, someone from the county’s public health department may contact them.

Lemas said he spent time in the grotto at the mansion.

“I was enjoying the sights, and the grotto was looking pretty cool that night,” he said. “It’s very humid. It’s very warm in there.”