Symptoms:
It initially appears to be the flu. There is headache, fatigue, achiness, and moderate fever. But then it develops into what seems more like pneumonia: a high fever (105o F.) with coughing, diarrhea, chills, disorientation, slow heart rate, dry cough, infection of the pleura, vomiting, severe chest pain, and shortness of breath. From lack of oxygen, the skin becomes bluish and sputum that is coughed up, eventually, is gray or blood-streaked.

Cause:
This is the strange disease which was first identified at the American Legion convention in 1976, which affected 182 partying in a hotel.

Those who smoke, drink, have diabetes, emphysema, or kidney problems are more likely to contract the disease. Younger people quickly recover, but the elderly can die from respiratory failure.

The Legionella pneumophila bacteria can be in heating and cooling systems. That is how the Legionnaires got it in that hotel. The disease is not directly transmitted from person to person, but through cool water droplets.

Treatment:
• Essentially follow the regime listed under "Pneumonia" and "Bronchitis." See your health care provider. The present rate is that 80% of those contracting the disease die, so this disease is a very serious matter. Immunosuppressed patients (such as chemotherapy-treated cancer patients), transplant patients, and AIDS patients are the most susceptible in contracting it.