A serious unknown outbreak of a killer virus in a Toronto nursing home has been identified as the bacteria that causes legionnaires’ disease.
The initial routine testing for the illness in urine samples did not reveal the bacteria. It was only when lung tissue from autopsies was tested was the suspect bacteria found.
Legionnaires’ disease is a type of pneumonia named after a severe outbreak that affected a meeting of the American Legion in Philadelphia in 1976.
Symptoms sometimes include fever, chills, fatigue, headache, aching muscles, and loss of appetite.
Legionnaires’ disease has never been found to be transmissible between patients. It is transmitted by inhaling infected water particles in the air from cooking, ventilation or hot-water systems.
Cooling towers and evaporative condensers of large air conditioning systems have been associated with outbreaks of the disease, and the highest incidence occurs in the warmest months of the year, the time when air conditioning systems are used the most.
70 residents, 13 staff and five visitors became ill. Several remain in hospital.
16 have died.
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Interesting post. I recently worked on a cooling tower. Well, if you hear of my death in the near future, you’ll know what killed me.
The antibiotic of choice for legionaires is erythromycin and its close chemical cousins. I’m at the point where, if I am going to treat a respiratory illness with antibiotics, I will use one of that family, mailnly because of legionaires.
The organism involved is an interesting one - it isn’t a virus, but it has some viral like properties.
You can get lots of good information about it and about other public health concerns by reading Laurie Garrett’s book “The Coming Plague”.
What I want and I believe many Canadian want is timely honest information so we can make decisions.
Hopefully the SARS mistakes have taught health care consumers to accept responsibility to learn what they can to make the best choices possible - even if it is just to get out of Dodge.
Hopefully the SARS mistakes taught public health officials that communication has to take precedence over politics.
If nothing else the economic loss in an epidemic or pandemic is a mutual language of risk.
Meantime epidemiologists have a new strain of legionnaires to play with, and we know given the history of the disease some otherwise healthy people who fell ill are not going to fully recover.
I’ve only read sections of that book Alicia - you are correct, it is an excellent source of information.
Tom - next time you go to work fixing a cooling tower - you’ll think of this blog! A lot of hazards in the building trade for sure. Be safe.