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The Philadelphia Legionnaires' Outbreak
🕑 Added 2021-12-21 11:15:59 +0000 UTCI first learned that legionella existed many years ago when I was working at a University. Over the course of the summer (when most of the accommodation on campus was empty) maintenance teams had to go around running the showers in every empty room at least once a week.
One day I asked them why they were doing this, and they explained that it was to prevent legionella bacteria from breeding. By running every shower on the hottest temperature possible for at least five minutes every week they could significantly reduce the chance of a legionella infection.
Here's a resource I found that explains a bit more about the process (it's specifically about taps in a science lab, but the advice therein could be applied anywhere). Just one of the many everyday ways in which we can now manage what was once a deadly mystery!
Comments
Fascinating Horror
It surprised me too. Quite a lot of the scientific breakthroughs we take for granted haven't actually been around all that long. Makes me wonder just how quickly some of the futuristic things people speculate about today might come about.
I always thought these events happened a hundred years ago. I was shocked to discover it happened within my lifetime. I donβt know if I should thank you for the enlightening history lesson or feel very old from discovering how recently this occurred. I also never knew that it happened in the USA. For some reason I thought it was France. Sorry. Product of an American school education system. π
Fascinating Horror
It's a very interesting case! As you say, it really epitomises how it can sometimes be like a battle between the disease and the people trying to understand the disease... with persistence being pretty key to victory.
An excellent video you've created here- thank you once again. We used this case as an example for students when I studied microbiology. It's a prime example of persistence- on both counts, the pathogens as well as the investigators.
