A bacterial infection that plagued New York City for weeks has traveled nearly 1,000 miles to two more states.
Rates of Legionnaires’ disease cases in Marshall County, Iowa, have doubled in about a week, reaching a total tally of 68 cases since a cluster was first announced on Thursday, Sept 4.
Iowa Department of Health officials still do not know the source of the declared outbreak in the county, home to around 40,000 people, and have launched an investigation into its origins.
They are urgently focused on testing 12 cooling towers, large air conditioning units for big buildings, in the north-central part of town, believing these to be the most likely origin of the contaminated aerosolized water droplets.
Legionnaires’ disease is spread through aerosolized droplets containing the bacterium Legionella. Legionella can survive in airborne water droplets for several hours, although this timespan is highly dependent on factors such as relative humidity and the specific bacterial strain.
The disease causes pneumonia, a severe lung infection that often begins with a high fever that can rocket past 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius). A relentless, dry cough and profound shortness of breath quickly follow.
The illness wages a full-body attack, bringing muscle aches, headache and a confused mental state as well as severe gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. In some of the most severe cases, the infection can even lead to coughing up blood.
Sydney Grewell, the county’s health department director, said the scale of the outbreak is unlike anything the community or the state has experienced.
The recent outbreaks mirror a major incident in Manhattan, where tainted cooling towers sickened 114 people and resulted in seven fatalities throughout Harlem and Morningside Heights
Earlier this month, it was announced that a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, which first tore through New York City neighborhoods, has now spread to the city’s northern suburbs, claiming new lives.
Health officials in Westchester County announced two fatalities, one in White Plains and another in New Rochelle, and confirmed 35 additional cases.
The outbreak echoes a recent crisis in Manhattan, where 114 people were sickened across Harlem and Morningside Heights, leading to seven deaths traced to contaminated cooling towers.
While the source of the Westchester cluster remains under investigation, Health Commissioner Dr Sherlita Amler pointed to the summer’s prolonged stretch of 90-degree days as a key factor, creating the warm, stagnant water conditions in which the lethal Legionella bacteria thrive.
Meanwhile, in Michigan, a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease at a retirement community claimed the lives of two residents this summer, prompting an urgent investigation by health officials.
The deceased, both residents of Allegria Village in Dearborn, contracted bacterial pneumonia in June and July. While their identities have not been released, officials confirmed they had recently moved into separate units within the continuing care facility.
The Wayne County Health, Human and Veterans Services department is leading the investigation, which is still in its early stages, to determine the source of the contamination and ensure the safety of other residents and staff.
Up to 18,000 people are hospitalized with Legionnaires’ disease each year in the US, and about one in 10 die. It’s more common between June and October, in part because air conditioners run more than any other time of year and cooling towers are typically the cause of outbreaks.
The number of Legionnaires’ disease cases in Marshall County, Iowa, has surged to 68, doubling the total in just over a week
Despite launching an investigation, health officials in Iowa have not yet identified the source of the outbreak in the county, which has a population of approximately 40,000 people
The Legionella bacteria thrive in warm water. Summer weather creates ideal conditions for it to multiply to dangerous levels in human-made water systems.
Iowa health officials have not said how many of the 68 patients in that state have been hospitalized. In Marshall County, one death has been recorded: Father Bernard ‘Bernie’ Charles Grady, 82.
The retired Catholic priest, described by his brother Peter as a ‘remarkable’ and ‘incredible’ man, became the outbreak’s first and, so far, only fatality according to SiouxLand Proud.
Specialized testing confirmed he had been infected by the bacteria.
His illness began suddenly with dizziness during dinner on August 22nd. A week later, after suffering from congestive heart failure, he passed away in a Waterloo hospital.
The extremely high fevers associated with Legionnaires’ disease drastically increase the body’s metabolic rate. This means the heart has to work much harder and faster to deliver oxygen and nutrients to fight the infection.
Infections are more likely to be severe in seniors, who have weaker immune systems than younger populations.
In severe cases, the bacterial infection can spread to the bloodstream, leading to sepsis, which in turn can cause a dramatic drop in blood pressure.
in Michigan, a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease at a retirement community has claimed the lives of two residents this summer, prompting an urgent investigation by health officials
To compensate, the heart must pump even more vigorously, which can overwhelm a heart that is already weakened or has pre-existing conditions.
In the US, an estimated 250 to 800 people die from Legionnaires’ disease each year, based on reported case data, which represents only a fraction of actual cases.
The symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease are indistinguishable from those of many other types of pneumonia.
Without a specific reason to suspect Legionella, a doctor will often diagnose and treat it as community-acquired pneumonia, without ever identifying the exact cause.
Health department director Grewell said: ‘This is something I’ve never experienced. I don’t think this is something that Marshall County has experienced, and I don’t think this is something the state has experienced as well, especially of this magnitude.
‘We have seen some trends in the patients that we are seeing, which is why we narrowed the focus to northcentral Marshalltown. Those people have visited the area, traveled to the area, and that’s where our cooling towers are primarily located.’
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