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It was just my sister and I taking care of what looked like an adult!baby,but in reality it was my own father. It was a Wednesday and fromthat Wednesday until the next Saturday, my whole life hadcompletely changed. My father had felt sick, but nothing extreme. No

one, including myself, thought anything of it. Later on that day, Ireceived a text message from my sister letting me know something wasnot right and that I had to come home from work immediately. As I satin the room watching my father struggle to speak and move in bed, mysister called 911. His mouth would open and no words would come out.He did not recognize me and when I tried to look at his eyes, theystarted to roll back in his head. I had a hard time recognizing him. Theambulance arrived and the three of us went along in the ambulancetruck. He was placed in the ICU after a day in the ER and diagnosedwith Legionnaires' disease. It was as if everything awful was happeningin a span of one week, every day a new obstacle. It started out as walkingpneumonia, which felt very similar to the regular flu. Then, he started to

become bed!ridden and we thought it was just a bad fever. However,

once he had fallen into delirium that Wednesday morning, we allknew it was something more than what we had originally thought.

Ultimately, he was placed in the ICU for a little over a week and put intoan induced coma. For one week I spoke to a sleeping man who didntlook like my father. He didnt laugh or make jokes like my dad. Theyplaced a respiratory tube in his throat to breathe for him once he couldno longer breathe on his own. Nothing seemed normal, and it had all

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How is it Transmitted?

Legionnaires' disease is

transmitted through inhaling

aerosolized water and/or soil

contamination with the

bacteriaLegionella. It is a type ofpneumonia caused by bacteria,

prevalent in sources wheretemperatures allow the bacteria to

flourish such as: hot-water tanks,

cooling towers, and evaporative

condensers of large air-

conditioning systems. At low levels

of contaminations, chances of

contracting Legionnaires disease

from a water source is very slight.

The problem arises when high

concentrations of the organism

grow in water systems. Stagnantwater can provide ideal conditions

for the growth of the organism.

What are thesymptoms?

- Headache

- Muscle Pains

- Chills

- High fever (104 F)

- Chest pains/shortness of breath

- Cough

- Confusion or mental changes

LOVE OF THE

LUNGS

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happened so quickly. I had never evenheard of Legionnaires' disease and allof sudden it was the only thing goingthrough my head for days.

The first outbreak of Legionnaires'Disease took place in Philadelphia in1976. No other city in America canboast being famous for an epidemic!!except toe Philadelphia, which isknown for The Yellow Fever

epidemic and Legionnaires' Disease. In 1976, Philadelphia was one of the focal points of the200th anniversary of American independence, a time for conventions and national celebrations.Legionnaires' disease had its first outbreak before a convention was set to take place; however,about 231 people rapidly came down with some form of respiratorydisease that seemed to be unidentifiable. Antibiotics were given to

patients, yet they failed to work; one medicine that showed somepositive results was erythromycin, an antibiotic that slows thegrowth of bacteria or kills it by reducing the production ofnecessary proteins needed by the bacteria to thrive. It was almostlike the setting of a scary movie: all male members of the AmericanLegion staying at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel in for an unexpected surprise.

Bellevue officials said out-of-town business for the hotel, with its 750 guest roomsand 20 public rooms, had been shut off completely. They said many Philadelphia-

area groups had canceled their reservations, explaining that some of their members

were a bit squeamish. -The Evening Independent

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EACH YEAR, AN ESTIMATED 10,000 TO 1

PEOPLE ARE INFECTED WITH THE LEGION

BACTERIA IN THE UNITED STATES.

FIRST

OUTBREA