ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, July 22, 1996 TAG: 9607220109
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA
SOURCE: MICHAEL RAPHAEL ASSOCIATED PRESS
NOTE: Below
TWO DECADES AGO, this lethal bug killed 34 and sickened 221. Scientists suspect it spread through the air-conditioning system.
The ex-Navy man - well-muscled and healthy just days earlier - coughed again, spraying a bloody mist onto the car's dashboard.
Hours later, 39-year-old J.B. Ralph died a suffocating death in a small town in southeastern Pennsylvania, his blackened lungs overflowing with a mysterious red foam.
Then a second Legionnaire died, this time in suburban Pittsburgh. Then others.
All across the state that final July weekend of 1976, American Legionnaires who had attended a state convention in Philadelphia a week earlier and others who had passed through the convention hotel were falling fatally ill.
Panic struck. Could it be sabotage? The deadly swine flu?
It was, simply, a bug - a tiny bacterium that fancies warm, watery conditions and kills swiftly. In all, 34 died and 221 were sickened from Legionnaires' disease - named for those it killed with so much fanfare 20 years ago.
Legionnaires' disease, with its tricky host and hidden home, forced the world's heath experts to face facts: They didn't know it all..
``People had developed some complacency about infectious disease and thought we had really learned all we needed to learn and we had the right drugs,'' said Paul Edelstein, a professor of pathology and lab medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. ``Now it's fairly commonly accepted there will always be new disease.''
Last year, two people died of Legionnaires' in Minnesota, one person in Pennsylvania. Two summers ago, health experts believe, at least 50 people were infected on a cruise ship. One person died.
Of the nearly 2.4 million cases of pneumonia recorded each year in the United States, 10,000 to 100,000 are caused by Legionella, experts estimate. Nearly one in six dies from the disease, with greater risk for older people, smokers and those with underlying illnesses.
``It's tricky,'' said Robert Breiman, the chief of respiratory diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. ``We think the disease is very underdiagnosed.''
Unlike traditional pneumonia, Legionnaires' is considered an environmental disease. The bacteria live in hot-water systems, showers, whirlpools and condensers and, under the right conditions, breed to deadly levels.
Researchers believe people catch it by inhaling infected water vapor. A few cases have been traced to drinking contaminated water, and at least two people have acquired Legionnaires' through cuts.
Inside the lungs, Legionella multiplies quickly, Breiman said. Symptoms come two to 10 days later: headaches, nausea, fever near 104 degrees and chest pains.
Scientists believe the aggressive bug has been killing for thousands of years, but doctors have only recently been able to treat it, particularly through modern advancements such as the antibiotic erythromycin.
But current technology also has increased Legionella's impact on society, Breiman said. Huge air-conditioning systems, for example, make living easier not only for human beings, but also for the rod-shaped organism.
``They're not only capable of amplifying [the disease],'' he said, ``but you create this capacity to throw Legionnaires' up in the air and be inhaled.''
That's what scientists believe happened at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel 20 years ago.
About 4,400 people attended the July 21-24 convention. Many left feeling rundown and tired. Most chalked it up to a summer cold.
``It was just like you caught the flu or something like that,'' said Michael Dolan, commander of Legion Post 239 in Williamstown. ``A little bit of a cough and a real drained look.''
The sickness was hitting all over the state, but the two youngest victims came from Dolan's post. Dolan's friend Ralph, the ex-Navy officer, was in terrible shape, as was Jimmy Dolan, a cousin who lived just down the block. The three men had roomed together in Philadelphia.
Jimmy Dolan died Saturday; Ralph, early Monday morning.
``They were among the first to go,'' said Michael Dolan, now 62. ``When they died ... the state [commander], he started to alert the Legion community. They were all spread out, the dead. When [Dolan and Ralph] died, that's what spearheaded the Legion to say, `This is hitting our Legionnaires.'''
By Monday's end, 17 more Legionnaires had died. Stumped health officials could offer little explanation. Dolan was so worried he sent his wife and child to stay with an aunt.
The newspapers reflected public unease. ``Six Days, 25 Deaths And Still No Answer,'' read a banner headline in The Philadelphia Inquirer on Aug.12.
Joseph Adams, elected state commander at the fateful convention, began fielding calls from around the state almost immediately.
``I went to about 15 or so funerals in about 12 days,'' he said. ``I drove close to 65,000 miles that year ... meeting with people who had some kind of theory.''
The answer to what it was finally came five months later, but scientists still can't say for certain how it spread at the Bellevue - the suspected air-conditioning unit was cleaned before investigators could begin their work.
LENGTH: Medium: 100 linesby CNB