The detection of the legionella bacterium in Argentina in recent days has already claimed the lives of six people, while another thirteen cases continue to be monitored. For this reason, now, a pulmonologist delivers a simple trick to avoid contagion.
The outbreak of bacteria legionella that hits Argentina for Monday already registered 6 muertos because of the bilateral pneumonia that causes your infection, according to EFE. At the same time, other 13 people have been affectedcases that continue to be followed up.
Although this is not the first outbreak of the bacteria in the world, symptoms that it has caused in patients are varied. While some are in recovery at home, others have even needed mechanical respirators.
For this reason, the community and scientists quickly began to theorize regarding whether it was a new variant of Covid, or if the reason behind these symptoms was something else.
In fact, in Germany there were reactions of relief. The Federal Minister of Health, Karl Lauterbach (SPD) tweeted: “There is no new pandemic. We would have missed that.” Lauterbach reacted like this to a tweet from German infectologist Leif Erik Sanderwho also expressed relief that the outbreak was due to legionella. “There is no danger of a pandemic”Sander declared. So there’s no reason to worry?
Where is legionella found?
“Legionellae can form in a certain water environment and then infect people. And these people can also get very sick. So they are certainly pathogens to be taken seriously, but they do not pose a pandemic or epidemic hazard, because they do not spread from person to person.”says Felix Drexler, virologist at the Charité University Clinic in Berlin in interview with DW.
But even if it’s not contagious, Legionella disease is a very serious type of atypical pneumonia, with fever and acute lung infection. The bacterium is transmitted by inhalation through the water or air conditioning.
The German virologist, a scientific adviser with extensive experience in Latin America, is not very surprised regarding the cause of the outbreak in Tucumán: “These things can happen in clinics. It is a problem that arises once more and once more throughout the world, ”says the virologist at the Charité, one of the largest hospitals in Europe.
In 2020were recorded in Germanyaccording to the Robert Koch Institute, a total of 1,281 cases of legionella. The case fatality rate was 4.8%. In August 2013, the city of Warstein suffered one of the largest outbreaks ever seen in Germany. 159 people became ill and two died.
How is the bacteria contracted?
But what is done in hospitals to avoid the risk of infection with legionella? “In all hospitals in Germany there are controls and a hygiene department that ensures that something like this does not happen,” says the neumólogo Wolfram Windisch.
Windisch is Vice President of the German Society of Pulmonology and explains the characteristics of legionella: “It is, so to speak, a water germ that is everywhere where there is water”begins by explaining.
“And the problem is that while they’re in the water, they’re really not that big of a problem. But if the water becomes an aerosol, so these bacteria are inhaled. And if that happens in high doses, then one can get the disease,” she detailed.
The trick to avoid it
The pulmonologist offers a practical recommendation for daily life: letting the shower water run for a few minutes following a long vacation or in hotels and apartments where the water might have stagnated for too long.
“It’s the classic. The danger is in the shower itself at home or in a hotel, where the water did not flow for a long time and remained stagnant in the pipes. You come back from your vacation following a few weeks, you open the shower, you happily breathe the water that surrounds you and you are already infected”says Windisch with a wink.
The expert confesses that he himself takes a very simple measure following long vacations or a long absence from home: “These bacteria prefer temperatures between 20 and 50 degrees. That means I run the shower on high for a few minutes and open the window. With temperatures above 50 or 55 degrees the bacteria are eliminated and then you can no longer be infected with legionella “.
