Although Legionnaires' disease is more common in older people, two high schools and a middle school were recently closed in Illinois, Chicago, "until further notice." On Wednesday, September 23, irregularly high levels of bacteria were found in the cooling towers of all three schools. Workers disinfected the towers on Wednesday and Thursday. No student has been known to be affected by the bacteria, meaning no one has gotten Legionnaires' disease. This case of bacteria was not the first case in the area of Illinois. Seven veterans at the Illinois Veterans' Home, 275 miles from the schools, were infected with Legionnaires' disease and died earlier this month. Legionnaires' disease is rare and travels through the air, not person to person. There are usually around 200 cases per year. In the South Bronx, earlier this year, 115 people were hospitalized with Legionnaires' disease, the source of outbreak being, of course, a hotel's cooling tower.
This disease sounds like it is spreading and becoming more common. This is not good for the world because even if it starts in one small place, with one small case, it can lead to millions of cases all over the world. I think we really need to figure out what is causing the bacteria to build up in not just the cooling towers but also everywhere it can collect. This disease is not as bad as the ones at the beginning of the colonization of America, such as smallpox, however it can grow and wipe out entire populations, just as smallpox did. Because of this, we need to figure out a way to fix the bacteria growth to lower the number of cases of Legionnaires' disease.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/23/health/legionnaires-disease-schools-closed/index.html
I think the health departments need to start checking for specific bacterias and things that can cause deadly epidemics instead of just checking if employees wash their hands or if they use Lysol in public bathrooms because some bacterias and germs aren't deadly or harmful at all and others are deadly and contagious.
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