Legionnaires Disease: The Happiest Place On Earth

Towards the end of World War I, a flu epidemic broke out with no cure. It was unique because most of the people who got it weren't the usuals to get sick. It was so deadly because no one knew how to cure it or mainly anyway to help it. The theater in Chicago tried to prevent the sickness from spreading by not allowing anyone who is sick to enter the theater. They wanted you to stay home and get better.

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

All was not right in the capital of the early united state or Philadelphia. Many people were dying of a fever that slipped under the radar.

People can recover from Legionnaires’, but 5% - 30% die. The most likely people to die by the disease are the elderlies and people with underlying medical problems. The disease is not spread by person to person, but through the air.

In December of 2014 a measles outbreak started in California at Disneyland. Though the source of the virus has not been identified, the strain of the virus (B3) is the same strain of virus that caused a measles outbreak in the Philippines. This is one possibility of the mode of transportation, coming internationally from the Philippines. One hundred seventy-three people were infected with the virus in 21 states. Of those, 39 were directly linked to the park while the rest were primary and secondary exposures. California, Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, and Washington were some of the states with measles associated with the Disneyland outbreak. By January 2015, Mexico had an outbreak from a 22-month-old baby that had connection to Disneyland Park and 53 people there were infected. The measles virus continued to spread throughout the States until February

In a response to the polio outbreak of 1916, Dr. Haven Emerson, the Health Commissioner for New York City, stated: “we have learned little that is new about the disease, but much that is old about ourselves.” The meaning of this has to do with the ideology that no matter the era, people have a common response to the outbreak of contagious disease. Human nature supplies us as humans with a common reaction to dealing with disease, and it is one that can be seen during the Black Death, polio epidemics, and ebola epidemics, as well as many other epidemics. These responses can be both positive and negative, and often have to do with containment of the disease, preventative measures - which may or may not be effective; and scapegoating. Although there may be individualized responses for each of these diseases, the way in which the health-care officers and the public handle the outbreak of disease generally follows the same pattern overall.

It traveled across the United States in weeks, the globe in only a few months, and it could have a rapid course, progressing from early symptoms to death in a day. The epidemic had two other crucial characteristics. It did not respect the epidemiologic rules taught by influenza outbreaks ignoring risk factors such as age and localized outbreaks. Its symptoms were gruesome: Your face turns a dark brownish purple. You start to cough up blood. Your feet turn black. A blood-tinged saliva bubbles out of your mouth. You die--by drowning. It was a mystery with no known origin, no known etiology, and no treatment. From its extraordinary ability to reach into everyday life in every nation to the special trains to carry away the dead, the epidemic is a story of mythic proportions. Along with these colossal attributes, it is also given, in popular thought, the power of

To fully comprehend the effect the yellow fever had on Pennsylvania in 1793, it is necessary to understand disease itself. This instance of widespread yellow fever in Philadelphia is known as an epidemic. An epidemic occurs when there is a pathogen present in the same area area as vulnerable a large number of people vulnerable to the said pathogen. Another common term for an epidemic is outbreak, but an outbreak usually occurs within a more limited area than an epidemic. An epidemic or outbreak can be brought on by an increase of a microbe that causes illness, the introduction of a disease-causing microbe into a new environment, a change to the environment that allows the pathogen to spread more readily, hosts in an area becoming more

Pneumonia is an inflammation or infection of the lungs most commonly caused by a bacteria or virus. Pneumonia can also be caused by inhaling vomit or other foreign substances. In all cases, the lungs' air sacs fill with pus , mucous, and other liquids and cannot function properly. This means oxygen cannot reach the blood and the cells of the body.

Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs. Many different organisms can cause it, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Pneumonia can range from mild to severe, and can even be deadly. The severity depends on the type of organism causing pneumonia, as well as your age and underlying health.

A water vessel packed full of refugees unwell with yellow fever, sluggish as a snail, sail over to Philadelphia in 1793. A sly fox, one lone mosquito bites one refugee and flies off to infect someone else and spread the illness... We have an epidemic! Now, the older, respected Philadelphia doctors fought with the newcomer French doctors from Haiti over which was the genuine treatment to cure a patient infected with yellow fever. Their ideas were all very disparate, but both had a few little similar characteristics. Still, with all their efforts, by the time the fever died, 2,000 to 5,000 people had become deceased.

Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lung which results into an excess of fluid or pus accumulating into the alveoli of the lung. Pneumonia impairs gas exchange which leads to hypoxemia and is acquire by inhaling a contagious organism or an irritating agent. (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2013). Fungal, bacteria and viruses are the most common organisms that can be inhale. Pneumonia could be community-acquired or health care associated. Community –acquired pneumonia (CAP) occurs out of a healthcare facility while health care associated pneumonia (HAP) is acquired in a healthcare facility. HAP are more resistant to antibiotic and patients on ventilators and those receiving kidney dialysis have a higher risk factor. Infants, children and the elderly also have a higher risk of acquiring pneumonia due to their immune system inability to fight the virus. Pneumonia can also be classified as aspiration pneumonia if it arises by inhaling saliva, vomit, food or drink into the lungs. Patients with abnormal gag reflex, dysphagia, brain injury, and are abusing drug or alcohol have a higher risk of aspiration pneumonia (Mayo Clinic, 2013). In the case of patient E.O., this patient had rhonchi in the lower lobe and the upper lobe sound was coarse and diminished. Signs and symptoms of pneumonia include difficulty breathing, chest pain, wheezing, fever, headache, chills, cough, confusion, pain in muscle or

Pneumonia is an illness of the lower respiratory tract in which the lungs become inflamed and congested and alveolar spaces are filled with fluid and cells-polymorphs and lymphocytes (Mandell L.A). It is an inflammatory condition of the lung and it is one of the most serious infections, causing two million deaths annually among the young and elderly. Pneumonia is the largest killer, accounting for 28% to 34% of all child deaths below five years of age in low-income countries and is an important cause of mortality in the elderly in high-income countries (Suárez).

M. pneumoniae is generally referred to as primary atypical or walking pneumonia because the symptoms are not as sever as pneumonia. The symptoms include a dry hacking cough, fever, and headache. The symptoms will last for about 2 to 3 weeks. M. pneumoniae affects people worldwide. Typically only 33 % of people who have M. pneumoniae will get atypical pneumonia. The majority, 77 %, will come down with an upper tract infection (tracheaobronchitis). (Pulmonary Disorders pg 609) M. pneumoniae is transmitted through aerosol droplets. The bacterium is capable of infecting anyone at any time but it has a pattern of coming in the fall and winter and causing an outbreak every 4 to 8 years, although more tight communities occur more frequently. The pathogen rarely occurs on children less than 4 years of age. Since the bacterium lacks a cell wall, B-lactums are futile against them. The body’s immune system is responsible for killing the pathogen. There were 2 million cases in the US with 100,000 requiring hospitalization. The mortality rate is very low with only occasional fatalities among the elderly and sickle cell anemia persons. ( ).

The world has experienced a total of four pandemics within the twentieth century. These pandemics, as horrific and deadly as they are, have brought so much more positive advances to our health care system and how we prepare for biological threats. Although we are in the twenty-first century and we have advanced so far in healthcare, there is still the possibility of a deadly pandemic.