Legionnaires’ disease is back and it’s quite worrying. These cases seem to come up from time to time and it’s hard to track how. Recently, a small hole in the wall at a Mexican restaurant had an outbreak. The CDC thought it came from the decorative fountain on the front. Imagine owning a small restaurant in Rapid City, Iowa and discovering that your customers and employees were getting sick from a rare strain of bacteria known as the infamous Legionnaires’ disease. Actually, Legionnaires’ disease is a nickname, which officially means the scientific name; Legionella pneumophila, serogroup 1 subtype Benidorm. It sounds amazing indeed.
Legionnaires’ disease is very elusive, this time it came and went and then disappeared only to show up later. The Legionella microbe is very deceptive and has interesting habits as it thrives on biofilms and slime. Eating feeds on sugar-like substances excreted by baxteria. Biofilms protect it from commonly used disinfectants, and Legionella can survive anywhere there is water. But it usually doesn’t get to people unless it stays in the water at 80-110 degrees.
It’s almost as if Legionella knows that humans heat water with water heaters, store warm water, and have industrial-type cooling towers. She seems like she likes to walk around with those things and when the water changes time, she goes away, but then she comes back again. As we have seen lately from the warm water and humidity, she must be loving it. Pretty scary stuff, better watch out. Think about this.