Legionnaires'
Disease
Discovery,
Incidence,
Diagnosis
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following six paragraphs, provided that credit is given to hcinfo.com:
Reports
of a strange
illness began
pouring in to
the
Pennsylvania
(USA)
Department of
Health in late
July 1976. By
August 2, the
department
realized that
all of the
reports
involved
persons who
had attended
the 58th
annual
convention of
the American
Legion's
Pennsylvania
Chapter held
at the
Bellevue-Stratford
Hotel in
Philadelphia
from July 21
to 24. Illness
struck 221
persons in
all, 72 of
whom did not
attend the
convention but
were in or
near the hotel
over the same
period. 34
died.
Thus
began one of
the largest
epidemic
investigations
in history.
After months
of searching,
investigators
traced the
illness, which
meantime had
been named
"Legionnaires'
disease"
by the press,
to a
previously
unknown
bacterium now
called
Legionella.
Legionnaires’
disease is not
rare. The
Centers for
Disease
Control and
Prevention (CDC),
Atlanta, has
estimated that
the disease
infects 10,000
to 15,000
persons
annually in
the United
States, but
others have
estimated as
many as
100,000 annual
cases.
Special
laboratory
tests are
required to
diagnose
Legionnaires’
disease.
According to
the CDC, most
cases go
unrecognized
because the
special tests
are not
routinely used
in hospitals.
Because the
symptoms of
Legionnaires'
are similar to
symptoms of
other types of
pneumonia,
undetected
cases of
Legionnaires'
disease are
classified
merely as
pneumonia with
no apparent
cause
(atypical
pneumonia).
Based on CDC
estimates, 8
to 39
pneumonia
deaths per
week occur in
the United
States without
the decedent's
survivors ever
knowing that
the cause was
Legionella.
Even
worse, many of
these deaths
could have
been
prevented:
unlike most
causes of
pneumonia, the
source (e.g.,
a hot-water
plumbing
system) of
Legionella
infections can
be identified.
But if
Legionella is
not recognized
as the cause
of illness, no
investigation
is conducted
to pinpoint
and disinfect
the source, so
the same
contaminated
source remains
a threat to
other lives.
According
to CDC
officials, no
cause is found
for almost
half of the
500,000 adult
pneumonia
cases that
occur each
year in the
United States. |
