In 1976 , the United States celebrated its bicentennial . Jimmy CarterbeatGerald Fordin the presidential election . And in Philadelphia , dozens of attendee at an American Legion league devolve ill with a mysterious respiratorydisease . Out of 2000 conference guests , 221 people were infected and 34 died . It make was a then - unknown eccentric of bacterium that was eventually named for its victim . But whatisLegionnaires ’ disease , exactly ?
Legionellosis is any infection from a genus of bacteria calledLegionella . The most illustrious of these infection is the untypical pneumonia called Legionnaires ’ disease , which is normally make by a specie calledLegionella pneumophila . The good news is that most multitude who are unwrap toL. pneumophilaor the less - frequently seen speciesL. longbeachae , L. feeleii , L. micdadei , andL. anisadon’t usually get sick . If youdocontractLegionnaires ’ disease , it ’s treatable .
Cases in the U.S. story for about10 percentof the world preponderance of Legionnaires ’ disease , and between 8000 and 18,000 Americans are hospitalized with it each year . Most healthy masses can and do regain through discourse with antibiotic , though there is a risk of lifelong tortuousness from an contagion left untreated too long . People most at risk for a serious or deadly outcome are immunocompromised , over years 50 , smokers , or suffer from chronic lung illnesses such as continuing impeding pulmonary disease ( COPD ) .
The sooner treatment begins , the better the chance are of recuperation . One reasonableness discussion might be delay is that Legionnaires ’ disease ’s symptom — high fever , cough , gruffness of breath , heftiness aches or headaches — are similar to other respiratory illnesses , such asinfluenzaor other types of pneumonia . While the symptom unremarkably appear two to 10 days after exposure , it can take as long as two weeks to become diagnostic .
Fortunately , Legionnaires ’ disease can not be transmitted from person to person . Instead , people are infect by breathing in airborne mist from polluted urine reference , such as improperly cleaned hot tubs , ventilation organisation , or great plumbing system systems . In the 1976 case , the bacterium was eventually establish in the cooling tower of the Bellevue - Stratford Hotel where the conference took place , and it was apace distribute throughout the building via the aviation conditioning organisation .
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A version of this taradiddle was bring out in 2015 ; it has been update for 2024 .
