Legionnaires Disease
By Makenzie Garrett
Symptoms
Symptoms of Legionnaires Disease consist of, two to ten days after your exposed, headache, muscle pain, chills, fever which can get up to one hundred and four degrees or higher, short breaths, chest pain, mental changes or confusion to the body and on the third day your exposed you can have the symptom of coughing up blood and or mucus.
Proscribed to Antibiotics
If you are proscribed to Antibiotics which usually be called, Erythromycine which is most popular or if it's a severe case of Legionnaires Disease you will most likely be proscribed Rifampinis. When your proscribed to an antibiotic it means your immune system is not working right and killing the bacteria its supposed too.
Side affects of antibiotics
Some side affects of the antibiotics would be nausea. diarrhea and allergic reaction.
Legionella Bacterium
The Legionnaires Bacterium causes Pontiac Fever(Milder illness like the flu). Pontiac Fever can clear on its own time but if the Legionnaires Disease is not treated it can be a fatal Disease.
Transmission
The transmission of the disease is not a person to person contact, it's by inhaling or drinking the bacteria.
Treatment
Treatment of the disease is by antibiotics and or hospitalization. While in hospitalization you take a Urine Test and if it detects positive for Pneumonia then that means you have Legionnaires Disease in your body.
Where is this disease found?
This disease is usually found in...
- Moist soil
- water
- creeks
- ponds
- hot and cold water temps.
- hot water tanks
- water in conditioning cooling towers
- evaporation condensers
- soil excavation sites
Medical outlook for future
Medical outlook for the future means countries around the world are going to strengthen health services. Improvement on sanitation around the world for sanitation and plumbing systems and regular programs and campaigns to reduce risks by showing the community.
Steps to get rid of the disease
Some steps to get rid of the disease is to identify the risks, prepare for preventing and controlling the risks, keep records and if it's appropriate get ahold of local authority.
Climate
The climate you can mostly find this disease is twenty five and forty five degrees Celsius. The optimum temperature is thirty five degrees Celsius.
Is this a new disease?
No. This disease has been around since 1976, but there has been some cases further back to 1947.
Locations
Locations this disease was found are ...
* Murcia, Spain
* Reynoldsburg, Ohio
* Australia
* Tasmania
* Netherlands
* Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
* Canada
* Portugal
* Vil Franca De Xira
* Greater Lisbon Area
To reduce risks
To reduce risks of the disease is to have proper maintenance, clean and disinfect regularly and with the water heater you need to keep it at a suitable temperature.
Similair diseases
Some similar diseases to Legionnaires is Pontiac Fever and Pneumonia.
Occur and appear
This is a disease that is known to occur and appear two to ten days, but usually five to six days.
More risks if..
You can get more risks of Legionnaires disease if your fifty years of age or older, smoke, have Chronic Lung Disease and a weaken Immune system.
Has this disease been found in Iowa?
Yes. This disease has been found in Iowa, in the Iowa City area. It was found in the sinks and other water outlets in the VA hospital. They say they've been able to keep the disease under control by having tests on a monthly basis. They monitor their patients and they didn't find any infections. VA ospital was planning on paying $6.5 million dollars to combat the disease.
History behind it
Their is a lot of history behind Legionnaires disease. This disease started in Philadelphia in 1976. A man was returning home from a state convention and he became ill with the symptoms of Legionnaires Disease. The man had a one hundred seven degree temperature, which is a symptom of the disease. Of some year in August organizations across the country reported six to fourteen cases of Legionnaires disease in Pennsylvania deaths. No test could determine the cause of illness, which then became the name of Legionella's Disease. Then Ford Administration was planning on a vaccination for all American's, but never did. It took more than six months to determine if Legionnaires was a disease.
Diagnosis
The diagnosis is when you usually have Pneumonia. Then Legionella thrives and grows into your lungs by inhaling or physically drinking the bacterium.
Extra info on the disease
Some extra info of the disease Legionnaires is it can not be seen by the naked eye because its a bacterium. It is not transmitted person by person contact. It also has another name called Opportunistic which means it frequently attacks people with a weaken Immune system or ill.
2013- Ohio- 44 cases and 6 deaths
2013- Warstein, Germany- 165 cases and 2 deaths
2013- Florence, Alabama- 13 cases and 1 death
2014- Sabadell, Spain- 22 cases and 2 deaths