Symptoms
This disease usually develops 2 to 10days after exposure to legionellae (Tateda et al., 2001b) . Major symptoms may include, loss of energy, headache, nausea, aching muscles, high fever, coughs and chest pain. Symptoms usually subside after given treatments after 4 to 5 days. Patients with Pontiac fever experience fever and muscle aches without pneumonia. They generally recover in 2 to 5 days without treatment
Treatments.
Usually antibiotics is prescribed to the patients as soon as the disease is suspected. Antibiotics used to fight the infections are mainly macrolides and quinolones. These antibiotics prevents the growth of the bacteria in the body. Macrolides are used in all age groups while tetracyclines are prescribed for children above the age of 12 and quinolones above the age of 18 (Marston et al., 1994) . Rifampicin can be used in combination with a quinolone or macrolide. These antibiotics are effective because they have excellent intracellular penetration and Legionella infects cells. Besides antibiotics being prescribed to patients, other methods of treatments are also used such as fluid and electrolyte replacement or supplying oxygen to the patient(Sherwood L. Gorbach et al.,2004).
Long term side effect of Legionnaire disease.
As with any acute illness, patients who recover from Legionnaires' disease can suffer long term side effects. The most common are fatigue and lack of energy for several months. However, asthma is still pending investigations by scientist as it is unclear as to whether this can be blamed solely on Legionnaires' disease; asthma may be due to a number of stresses besides Legionnaires' disease (Tateda et al., 2001b)
Prevention of Legionella growth.
Legionella bacteria itself can be inhibited by UVC light. However, Legionella bacteria that grow and reproduce in amoebae or that are sheltered in corrosion particles cannot be killed by UV light alone. A proactive way is the combination of ultrasonics and UVC light (Marston et al., 1994) . This uses a two stage process, where ultrasonic cavitations’ disrupts the corrosion particles and leaves the Legionella bacteria exposed for UV radiation. Such combined systems are used for example in hot water systems in sensitive areas, such as hospitals, where the inhabitants are more vulnerable than in normal environments. Besides using UVC light, plumbing systems can be maintained to minimize the growth of legionellae. Water tanks that are constantly used for storage of water should be constantly heated to at least 600C to inhibit the growth of the bacteria. And if preventive measures alone do not control the bacteria, disinfection procedures can be implemented to eradicate the bacteria from further growth (Sherwood L. Gorbach et al.,2004).
Reducing risk of Legionnaire disease
You can reduce your risk of Legionnaires’ disease by lowering your susceptibility to infection and avoiding exposure to Legionella bacteria. The most important factor in lowering your susceptibility to infection is to stop smoking. Smoking is the number one factor in acquiring Legionnaires disease. A study of 146 adults with Legionnaires’ disease indicated that smoking sharply increased the risk of contracting the disease (Molofsky et al., 2006).
Although the death rate recorded for this disease is low as compared to other acute diseases, this disease should always be kept controlled so that no major outbreak could happen as this effect could be seen in Spain where the outbreak of Legionnaires' disease happened in July 2001(Molofsky et al., 2006) . At least 16000 people were exposed to the bacterium and 6 fatalities were reported as a result from the exposure. Even though the fatality rate is merely 1%, this disease can never be taken lightly as a mistake could cause this bacteria to multiply in days triggering yet another major outbreak of disease (Klaus Heuner, Michele Swanson 2008).
Reference
Klaus Heuner, Michele Swanson (2008), Legionella: molecular microbiology.Caister Academic Press. P 151-165
Marston, B. J., Lipman, H. B. & Breiman, R. F. (1994). Surveillance for Legionnaires' disease. Risk factors for morbidity and mortality. Arch Intern Med 154. P 2417–2422.
Molofsky, A. B., Byrne, B. G., Whitfield, N. N., Madigan, C. A., Fuse, E. T., Tateda, K. & Swanson, M. S. (2006). Cytosolic recognition of flagellin by mouse macrophages restricts Legionella pneumophila infection. J Exp Med 203. P 1093–1104.
Sherwood L. Gorbach, John G. Bartlett, Neil R. Blacklow (2004), Infectious diseases. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. P 523-524.
Tateda, K., Moore, T. A., Newstead, M. W., Tsai, W. C., Zeng, X., Deng, J. C., Chen, G., Reddy, R., Yamaguchi, K. & Standiford, T. J. (2001b). Chemokine-dependent neutrophil recruitment in a murine model of Legionella pneumonia: potential role of neutrophils as immunoregulatory cells. Infect Immun 69. P 2017–2024.
