Dateline:July 1976
Location:Philidelphia, Pennsylvania
Casualities: 200 sick 29 dead
Culprit:Legionnaires Disease
The Summer of 1976 was a piviotal time in American History as the USA was celebrating its 200th year of independence. That summer the American Legion Convention was taking place in a appropriate city where America's Decleration of Independence was signed, Philidelphia, Pennsylvania. However, during the days counting up to the start of the convention a couple of events took place. Philly sanitation workers went on strike which caused garbage to pile up on Philidelphia's sidewalks and streets. Prostitutes were also barred from many of the hotels including the Bellvue Stradford which is where the center of the convention was.
Two to Three days after the convention, many of the Legionnaires had fallen ill with Heart Attack like symptoms of: Nausea, Chest tighness, shortness of breath,and high fever. Within days 9 Legionnaires had died from the mysterious illness. Could it have been Bubonic Plague since rats and garbage were all over Philly streets since the sanitation strike was ongoing? Perhaps it was a strain of a new STD called Super Gonnhoreah since prostitution was rampant during the convention and more than likely some of the legionnaires were dabbling in sex. Swine Flu was also a suspected culprit as an outbreak did happen that year. The biggest fear was Bioterrorism because there had been threats in the days and weeks prior.
The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta questioned and examined many of the Legionaires to find out their symptoms. Turns out it was an undiscovered type of Pneumonia like disease caused by an unknown bacteria. The disease was then called Legionnaires Disease. Months later due to bad publicity the Bellvue Stradford Hotel in Philly had closed its doors. However the CDC took bacteria samples inside the hotel and determined that the disease was caused by the broken AC units. The Bacteria was found in the HVAC towers of the Hotel. This case caused more regulations to be implemented for industrial climate control systems.
Within one week 25 Legionnaires had died and hundreds more sick. The majority were men,but not all of the ill were Legionnaires or Hotel guests of Bellvue Stradford. More recent cases have happened in Australia, Canada, UK, Netherlands,Spain, A couple summers ago in The Bronx, New York which several were sickened including a Rikers Island Inmate. More recently during the Flint Water Crisis several cases have popped up resulting in death. Which is causing a lot of controversy even indictments in how Flint, Michigian is handling its water supply.
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