Legionnaires Disease Strikes California

Treatment for infected people involve antibiotics, steroids, intensive care, and droplet precautions. Prophylactic antibiotics are usually given to prevent the spread of the disease to those in close contact of the infected people.

(Center For Disease Control).Those at greatest risk for contracting the disease are individuals who do not vaccinate or children to young to receive the vaccine. Signs and symptoms of measles include high fevers up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, rash, cough, conjunctivitis and runny nose. Many other complications may evolve once a person is infected with measles some being otitis media and pneumonia. The infected person is contagious roughly about 4 days prior to the rash forming and for about 4-5 days after the rash disappears. Most people that have died from the disease did not die from measles but the complications of measles and secondary illnesses. (The History Of Vaccines).

Recently, Governor Jerry Brown signed the California Vaccination Bill SB 277. This bill no longer has exceptions based on religious or personal-beliefs, and it requires every single child to have the proper vaccinations in order to be allowed into a public or private school. So if parents truly do not want their child to be vaccinated they would have to homeschool them instead. This bill was influenced by the recent outbreak of measles that started at Disneyland and spread very quickly and caused the infection of one hundred and fifty people. California, Mississippi, and West Virginia are the three states that no longer allow non-medical exemptions. This new law goes into effect on July 1, 2016.

At least 45 people were sickened in the recent outbreak, and at least five have been hospitalized. Investigators had spoken with 34 affected people as of Saturday, 32 of whom ate at one of the 17 Minnesota Chipotle locations between August 16-26. Those interviewed became sick between August 20-29.

The evidence that is used to back the thought that it may kill you is based on research of medical record of patients who had both been diagnosed with shingles and suffered a heart attack or stroke within a year of their outbreak. The cause of stroke is thought to be brought on

It is not an airborne bacterium nor can it be transmitted from person to person. The elderly and any individual that has pre-existing respiratory conditions, chronic lung disease, smoke have asthma, or are fifty years of age or older are at a higher risk of death if diagnosed with this disease. The bacteria or bacterium, Legionella enters and is transmitted through the lungs from either inhalation of aerosolized contaminated soil and/or water or by aspirating contaminated water. Legionnaires’ disease can lead to life-threatening complications such as; respiratory failure, septic shock, acute kidney failure and even

First Responders, Food Handlers, Medical Providers. It is recommended that all first responders, food handlers, and medical providers get vaccinated, and IgM treatment post exposure event, if applicable (Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, 2017). Like other agencies, forming partnerships with these providers allows them to educate those in their realm, for example, restaurant employees, doctors and nurses, and as in San Diego, paramedics have been trained to give vaccinations to those they treat on the street, as well as being a support at vaccination events (EMS1, 2017). Information can be shared back and forth, thus building community-based data, useful for future outbreaks, also to be shared with others.

While reading An American Plague, I noticed an interesting detail that so many people were dying at the beginning of the fever according to Murphy (2003) “ On wednesday twelve more died; thirteen died on Thursday. Others besides the doctors were beginning to notice the illness. “ . I wonder if there was or is any way of preventing the fever from happening . According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) it states that you should beware of mosquitoes peaking hours from dusk to dawn . Also it states to use insect repellent with picaridin, IR3535, or oil of lemon eucalyptus on exposed skin . Also there is a vaccination from it , but the (CDC) recommends not getting that vaccination only if you are going where risk of the yellow

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of three seniors will develop shingles, an extremely painful reactivation of the varicella zoster virus. Despite vaccinations being widely available, nearly one million reports of shingles occur each year in the United States. The CDC notes that "anyone who has recovered from chickenpox may develop shingles...however the risk of shingles increases as you get older." The vast majority of cases occurs in seniors between 60 and 80 years of age.

A new form of pneumonia, called Legionnaire’s Disease claimed the lives of 34 people who attended a convention in Philadelphia while 221 others became infected.

The Milwaukee outbreak was evaluated using the results from the stool samples conducted in fourteen clinical labs between March 1 and April 16, 1993 (McKenzie et al., 1994). The study showed no increased in bacterial enteric pathogens. It also showed, before the outbreak, that only 42 Cryptosporidium tested were conducted during the period from March 1 and April 16. However, after the outbreak 1000 Cryptosporidium tests were conducted in a period of seven days (McKenzie et al., 1994). “During each of these intervals, about one-third of sampled tested were positive for Cryptosporidium” (McKenzie et al., 1994). “The percentage of positive Cryptosporidium tests were similar to that of the Carrollton events, which had a rate of 39 percent. These

Christensen AM, Pietralzyck E, Brooks C, et al. An interstate outbreak of tick-borne relapsing fever among vacationers at a Rocky Mountain cabin. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1998:58(6):743-7. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.1998.58.743

Moreover, according to Russell Blaylock, MD, herd immunity conception is “one of the grand lies of the vaccine program” (Obukhanych). According to herd immunity principle, 92-94 percent of population needs to be vaccinated in order to prevent contagious diseases from spreading. Even with 95-97% of vaccinated population, California being a world’s top tourist destination will always be at risk for outbreaks because over six millions tourists visit California each year. As vaccine immunity is only short-term in contrast to disease-conferred immunity which last a lifetime, CDC came up with booster shots. But even despite of accepting “cradle-to-grave shots” of Pertussis vaccine, the disease “still persists after more than sixty years of widespread

accounts of people being or feeling sick with the latest outbreak. If you have been feeling hot or dizzy then get inside immediately and call the local doctor and try to keep yourself segregated from others to limit the risk of being sick. If you are found with the fever then you will have two choices, you can either have at least half of your blood drained or you will have to go to a sick house and be taken care of by other people in old orphan homes. We greatly advise to retreat to the country with fresh air. The yellow fever has killed at least 5,000 people already just in the Philadelphia area.

One of the main problems that occur with MERS is that those with preexisting medical conditions such as, diabetes, cancer, chronic lung, heart, and kidney disease are more likely to develop the virus (CDC). Because their immune system is already weakened, when they are exposed to the virus it makes it that much easier to catch it. Those who have severe cases of MERS often suffer with pneumonia or kidney failure after they are able to fight off the virus (CDC). For most, death is the result. 3 to 4 out of every 10 patients do not survive MERS (CDC). So far, the number of cases reported are 1,374, number of deaths are 490, and there is a 36% fatality rate (MNT). This virus is spread through close contact but can be prevented by frequent hand washing, covering of nose and mouth, avoiding touching, avoiding personal contact with those that are sick, and disinfecting of surfaces. These are important measures to take because there is no vaccine to prevent it (CDC). Unfortunately as of right now, there is no treatment for this. All