Legionnaires contract Legionnaires' disease after convention
By JOANN LOVIGLIO
The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA - Two men tested positive for Legionnaires' disease after they attended the Pennsylvania American Legion's annual convention in Montgomery County, not far from where nearly three dozen people died of the disease at a similar event in 1976.

The two legionnaires, 60 and 70 years old, are from the Pittsburgh area and are back home after brief hospitalizations, said Kit Watson, Adjutant for the Pennsylvania posts of the American Legion. Three other legionnaires who felt sick after the convention were tested and results came back negative for the respiratory infection, he said Thursday.

Legionnaires' disease was discovered at a 1976 American Legion convention at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. Thirty-four people died and 221 became ill.

The 2005 convention was held July 14-17 in King of Prussia, a Philadelphia suburb. About 1,500 people attended the event at the Radisson Valley Forge, a complex that includes hotel rooms and a convention center, Health Department spokesman Richard McGarvey said.

The only direct link between the two men was that they both attended the convention. The hotel could be the source of the bacteria, given the men's onset dates for the illness and the usual two-to-10 day incubation period for Legionella, but investigators have not made any conclusions, McGarvey said.

DisplayAds ('Middle');

Montgomery County health officials are taking water samples from the site.

Legionnaires' disease often spreads through inhalation of mist from contaminated water. It can be found in air conditioning cooling towers, hot water tanks, whirlpool spas, humidifiers, faucets, shower heads and moist soil.

"Certainly when you have two cases that have someplace in common, you'll want to do environmental testing to see what's there," McGarvey said.

There are typically about 150 cases of Legionnaires' disease reported annually in Pennsylvania, McGarvey said. As many as 90 percent of Legionnaires' cases go unreported, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Those who contract the disease experience flulike symptoms. Untreated, the disease proves fatal in 15 to 20 percent of the cases.

:::

okay, well, guess one thing we can say about that this disease is that it digs old guys with funny hats. no, i mean, honestly, i would change the name of the american legion at this point . it's too tempting for the irony-happy legionella bacteria. something like the american not-getting-sick-and-dying-at-convention group. also, legionaires, stop holding your damn conventions in philadelphia. NO GOOD has come out of an american legion convention in philly. once you get a disease named after your group somewhere, just don't go back. really. i wonder if there is a legion for those who survived legionaire's disease?