Legionnaires Disease

Legionnaires’ Disease is pneumonia that’s caused by bacteria (Center For Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). The name of the bacteria that causes Legionnaire’s is Legionella pneumophila. Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs; this specific type of pneumonia is serious and can threaten one’s life. The body system that is affected is the respiratory system. Another body system that can be affected is the digestive system. This disease can lead to complications such as respiratory failure, septic shock, and acute kidney failure (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 2014). It can be fatal to those who have a weak immune system. This disease is caught by “breathing in mist from water sources such as hot tubs, showers, and large air conditioning units” (Center For Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). This disease cannot be transmitted from person to person contact. There is a milder form of Legionnaires’ Disease which is
Most of those who have been exposed to this bacterial disease don’t have signs or symptoms. Those who do show the signs and symptoms and are at high risk if they are “fifty years of age or older, those who smoke, those who already have chronic lung disease and those who have a weak immune system” (Center For Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). This disease appears between two and ten days after one has been exposed. Those with a high fever have a fever of one hundred and four degrees Fahrenheit or higher. After the second or third day of exposure other signs and symptoms will occur. These signs and symptoms include coughing up mucous or blood, shortness of breath, chest pain, symptoms of the gastrointestinal tract such as vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea, and mental changes or the feeling of being confused (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research,