One person has died of legionellosis (“legionnaires’ disease”) in the Spanish city of Cáceres in the autonomous community of Extremadura, and six more have been hospitalized, local health officials said.
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“In addition to the 86-year-old man who died, five other men and one woman were taken to the hospital,” they said in a statement.
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It is noted that hospitalized people aged 55-85 years. Two of them are in intensive care.
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On Wednesday, experts took samples from different parts of the city to try to find out the possible source of the disease, in particular, sources of drinking water are examined, as well as decorative fountains.
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Earlier it was reported that as a result of the outbreak of “legionnaires’ disease” in southern Poland, 14 people died. An outbreak of legionellosis, also known as “legionnaires’ disease”, was recorded in the Polish Rzeszow Podkarpackie Voivodeship near the border with Ukraine.
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Legionellosis was first identified in the United States in 1976, in Philadelphia among the participants of the convention of the American Legion, an organization of combat veterans created after the end of the First World War. Once in the respiratory tract, the bacterium causes an illness with flu-like symptoms and leads to inflammation of the lungs. There is no vaccine to prevent legionellosis, but early diagnosis and treatment with certain antibiotics can reduce the severity of the disease and complications.
