The outbreak attributed to “gym exposure” is relatively small, but it is contributing to Florida’s highest number of Legionella infections in a decade.
Understanding Legionnaires’ Disease: Symptoms, Causes, and Risks
Legionnaires’ disease, a type of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria, has symptoms such as cough, fever, headache, muscle pain, and shortness of breath.
An outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease linked to Florida gyms has pushed the state to its highest number of cases in a decade.
The Orange County “gym exposure” outbreak includes 14 people, according to the Florida Department of Health.
According to the health department, Legionnaires’ disease is a type of severe pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria. Lung infections are mild in healthy people, but can be serious and even fatal for certain at-risk groups.
“The most common way people get sick is by inhaling the mist it contains. legionella bacteria” announced the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Due to the spread of infections at gyms, Orange County will have a total of 82 infections in 2025, the highest number in the state. Florida reported a total of 72 confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease in November. Florida will have 665 cases in 2025.
Case reports of Legionnaires’ disease also include Pontiac fever, a mild infection caused by the same type of Legionella bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the increase in Legionella infections in Florida mirrors national trends. Here’s what you need to know about this disease.
What is Legionnaires’ disease? What are the symptoms?
Most healthy people exposed to Legionnaires’ disease do not become ill or develop a milder form of Pontiac fever. Older people and smokers are at higher risk of contracting the more severe form of Legionnaires’ disease and should receive immediate treatment.
The first signs of Legionnaires’ disease tend to resemble the flu. According to the Mayo Clinic, high fever, headache, and muscle aches often occur two to 10 days after exposure to Legionella.
One to two days later, people with Legionnaires’ disease often report coughing with mucus and sometimes blood, shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, confusion, or other mental changes.
How does Legionnaires’ disease spread?
Legionella bacteria thrives in warm aquatic environments and is typically spread through aerosolized water inhaled in showers, spas, etc. Cooling towers, which are water supply systems on the roofs of buildings that control the temperature of cooling systems such as air conditioners, can also be a source of infection.
It is not contagious from person to person, according to the Florida Department of Health. Rather, Legionnaires’ disease is usually spread when someone inhales water droplets contaminated with Legionella bacteria.
The CDC estimates that about 9 out of 10 outbreaks are caused by problems that could have been prevented with effective water management, such as hot tubs, plumbing systems, and cooling towers.
Is Legionnaires’ disease deadly? Who is most at risk?
According to the CDC, about 1 in 10 people who contract Legionnaires’ disease die from complications related to the disease.
“Approximately 1 in 4 people who contract Legionnaires’ disease while staying in a health care facility will die,” the CDC website states.
Current or former smokers, people over 50, and people with certain health problems or conditions are at higher risk of getting the disease. Those conditions include:
- cancer
- chronic lung disease
- diabetes
- renal failure
- liver failure
- weak immunity
CDC data also shows higher rates in some groups of people and factors.
- black people
- male
- senior citizen
- Northeast and Midwest Region
- summer and autumn months
Legionnaires’ disease cases in the US are on the rise
Since 2000, the incidence of Legionnaires’ disease has increased ninefold in the United States. The number of reports peaked in 2018 and declined to a five-year low during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The number of reported cases has rebounded in 2021 and is increasing again.
According to the Florida Department of Health, between 8,000 and 18,000 people are hospitalized with Legionnaires’ disease each year in the United States.
The CDC is investigating a 2,025-person outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in New York City that caused at least seven deaths, 90 hospitalizations, and 114 infections over the summer. The outbreak is suspected to have originated from an infested cooling tower in downtown Harlem.
The incident in Harlem occurred in late July and led authorities to work to fix problems with 12 cooling towers across five ZIP codes. Authorities declared the cluster over on August 29th.
Climate change has been cited as a factor in the increase in legionella cases. Hotter and humid conditions mean more places to add cooling infrastructure where bacteria can grow.
Contributed by: Eduardo Cuevas, USA TOD
