The first recorded outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease happened in 1976 in Philadelphia at a conference for American Legion members. There were a total of 182 cases of the disease, 29 of which were fatal. Legionnaires’ Disease is a form of pneumonia caused by the legionella bacteria. Legionnaires’ Disease is also known as legionellosis. The disease takes anywhere from 2 to 14 days to take hold within the body. There are over 50 species of legionella bacteria. The most common by far is legionella pneumophila. Species of legionella are often named after the area in which they were found. There is a species of legionella called…
Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech Civil and Environmental Engineering professor released a selection unpublished results from his team’s study of the 2015 outbreaks of Legionnaires’ Disease that killed 12 people in Flint, Michigan. Edwards, who is most known for sounding the alarm about the dangerous levels of lead in the Flint water system in 2015, believes that the Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak is a result of the water supply switch to the Flint river, coupled with the lack of any application of anti-corrosive and chlorination treatments. To conduct this study, Professor Edwards and his team simulated the outbreak in a lab. Edwards and his…
A man in his 50s has died from Legionnaires’ disease that he contracted while using a hot spring in Mihara, Hiroshima. He is thought to have visited the facility in early March and was hospitalized with pneumonia like symptoms including shortness of breath and fever shortly after. In addition to the deceased man, 39 people who have all visited the “Miharashi Onsen” hot spring have also been experiencing pneumonia-like symptoms. Of the 39 people, in ages ranging from 30-80, 37 have been hospitalized with two in serious condition. Legionella pneumophila has been detected in all of the people complaining of…
Pennsylvania appellate court has ruled that a former Nestle USA Inc. employee is entitled to workers compensation indemnity and medical benefits. Shawn Gallen was disabled due to his bout with Legionnaires’ disease, which he believes was caused by exposure to contaminated water while performing his job. Mr. Gallen was an employee of Glendale, California-based Nestle USA Inc. since 1994. He was based in the company’s Burlington, New Jersey, office, but performed most of his work in Pennsylvania doing maintenance work of beverage machines. In June 2013 he experienced flu-like symptoms. He fell into a coma at a hospital and…
According to the settlement filings from the ACLU and NRDC’s lawsuit against the City of Flint and the State of Michigan, both defendants are to replace around 18,000 tainted water lines leading to homes from the Flint municipal water supply. The whole operation is expected to cost ninety million dollars and is slated to be completed by 2020. As a result of the disuse of anti-corrosive agents, as well as chlorinated water treatment, these water lines carried not only exceedingly high levels of lead, but legionella bacteria that ended up causing the deaths of 12 Flint residents. More information can be found here…
Chad Grant, the CEO of McLaren Flint Hospital, the facility at the center of the Flint Legionnaires’ Outbreak, released an extremely critical report as a response to a state health department order for the hospital to “correct conditions”. Grant accused state officials of “blaming and attacking” McLaren Flint, and treating it as if it were the sole cause of the Flint outbreak in order to deflect attention from themselves. He referred to the accusations as “unwarranted and unjustified”. Grant points to the Flint municipal water system, which changed its source from Lake Huron to the Flint River, as the driving force behind the…
The VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System has extended water restrictions due to the discovery of Legionella bacteria at its University Drive location. In late January water restrictions were enacted to kill the bacteria in Building 1. Those restrictions have been extended to ensure the water supply has time to sanitize while the sample testing is being repeated. A patient of the Pittsburgh VA was diagnosed with Legionella pneumonia in February and has since been treated. The patient had visited the campus during the 10 day onset of the illness as an outpatient. “At this time, evidence suggests the patient contracted Legionella…
The former director of disease control and prevention at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Corrine Miller, has been sentenced for her involvement in the 2014-2015 outbreak of Legionnaires Disease that killed 12 people in Flint. Corrine Miller admitted to knowing about 100 cases of Legionnaires Disease in the Flint area and failing to report these findings to local hospitals, as well as the general public. Last September, Miller pleaded no contest to a charge of willful neglect of duty, the least serious of the charges filed against her. Miller received 1 year of probation, as well as…
An emergency has been declared in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. A Legionella bacterium has been found in the water systems in multiple apartment buildings resulting in the Emergency Commission activating an emergency operations center to handle it. Two apartment blocks in the Zirmunai neighborhood tested positive for the bacteria that causes Legionnaires disease and a third block in the Lazdynai neighborhood is being tested. “We have two deaths and a third incident is still under investigation. This affects over 500 people because there are three buildings and it takes more than 24 hours to eliminate (the emergency situation). Based…
Researchers the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine are currently working on a project to develop single-celled organisms that seek out and kill potentially deadly bacteria. The team was inspired by amoebas that have been known to surround and kill yeast bacteria and develop ‘soldier cells’ out of these amoebas. Using a $5 million dollar grant from DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the team is first focusing on making these cells target Legionella and Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria. If the project is successful, the possible applications outside of the laboratory are exciting. These amoeba soldiers could be used…