From ice rink Zambonis to hotel cooling towers: Scientists have found Legionella sources in some strange places

Fifty years ago, at the same time the United States was celebrating its bicentennial it was also grappling with outbreaks of swine flu in Texas and bubonic plague in California. Then in July, 1976, a mysterious pneumonic disease infected scores of people at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia making them gravely ill and killing 34 of them.

It took baffled researchers months to find the culprit, which ended up being a new infectious agent dubbed Legionella by its discoverer, CDC microbiologist Joseph McDade. He chose the name to honor the victims of the pathogen who were mainly WWII veterans attending an American Legion reunion at the hotel whose cooling tower was the source of the outbreak.

While most people don’t give Legionnaires’ disease a second thought these days, back in 1976 it was deemed the “epidemic of the century.” Worryingly, instances of this bacterium infecting people have been on the rise around the world.

This is thanks to rising temperatures, lax monitoring and prevention, as well as its ability to conceal and protect itself by hiding inside amoeba until it decides to strike. Furthermore, it can be found in some very unsuspecting places.

The strange places where Legionella lurks

Legionella isn’t spread human to human but through water droplets that are inhaled by unsuspecting victims. Common sources of outbreaks come from cooling towers, but the dangerous bacterium can be found basically anywhere there is water and people have caught infections from some “objectively weird places.”

The Science History Institute explains that “people have caught legionellosis from birthing tanks, produce misters in grocery stores, hot tubs, decorative fountains, windshield wiper fluid receptacles, and the spray from Zamboni machines that smooth the surface of ice rinks.”

One outbreak in Sweden was traced back to an electrical fireplace in a hotel’s high-end lobby, which used a mist to create the illusion of flames. The bacteria were hiding in the plastic reservoir that housed the water. Despite being in plain sight of the health investigators it took them months to figure out the source.

Another pair of reported infections occurred near Glasgow. Although they took place 20 years apart, both victims caught the same strain of Legionella, after they both nearly drowned in an estuary.

Most people don’t get sick from Legionella, but it can be very deadly

Despite Legionella being in the environment all around us, most healthy people don’t get sick from it when exposed. When a person does fall ill with Legionella, it first attacks the tiny air sacs in the lungs before moving on to other organs in the body where it can cause them to fail.

The case fatality rate of the pathogen is at least 10% but can be up to 40% when an outbreak occurs in a hospital or long-term care facility where those who get infected typically have immune systems that are less resistant to the disease. While it can be treated with antibiotics, if not treated quickly Legionella can leave lungs severely damaged and lifelong health impacts.

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