Legionnaires Disease
By: Laurel, Lauryn, Bayleigh, and Cole
What is Legionnaires?
Legionnaires is a severe form of pneumonia. It is a noncommunicable disease that affects the lungs.
Symptoms
Symptoms of the Legionnaires disease include cough, fever, chills, shortness of breath, headaches, and diarrhea. Legionnaires disease can also cause you to have muscle aches. Pontiac Fever (the mild form of the legionnaires disease), can cause fever chills, headaches, and muscle aches.
What part of the body does Legionnaires infect?
Although the disease primarily affects the lungs, it occasionally can cause infections in wounds and in other parts of the body, such as the heart.
How do you get legionnaires?
The bacteria that causes the legionnaires is called the legionella bacteria. The bacteria is usually passed from one person to another through infected water sources such as pools, and faucets. The disease can also spread through dirt. You are more likely to get legionnaires if you smoke, have a weakened immune system, have a chronic lung disease, or if you are 50 years of age or older.
Treatments for Legionnaires
Some treatments you can get for the Legionnaires disease include antibiotics such as azithromycin or ciprofloxacin.