Legionnaires' Disease with COVID-19-like Symptoms Poses New Threat Post Lockdown

The United States is now gradually easing coronavirus lockdowns. However, BGR reported a new unfortunate cost associated to the lockdowns has emerged, with experts pointing out that an outbreak of Legionnaire's disease as a by-product of the lockdowns are spreading in the US. The disease thrives at empty offices as everyone started working from home.

Lockdowns and other safety measures were implemented in business establishments in cities and states. Unfortunately, the number of coronavirus cases in the country continues to increase. According to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University, there are about 2 million cases of coronavirus infections in the US that have been identified as of Thursday. The data also showed that 113,000 of them are reported deaths that are attributable to the coronavirus.

As everyone is trying to "live with the virus," experts are also doing a retroactive analysis of the lockdowns to see if it has a positive or negative impact and how well they did the job.

Numerous governors in the country have expressed that they no longer have the political appetite for another draconian and near-absolute shutdowns of communities even with the rising cases. Moreover, the University of Berkeley said that China, France, Italy, Iran, South Korea, and the US concluded that the health measures implemented to prevent COVID-19 transmission were able to prevent additional infections.

Empty Buildings Allowed Legionnaires' Disease to Thrive

When lockdowns were implemented across the US, facilities and businesses have also closed and emptied as employees started working from home. These empty buildings became a perfect environment for Legionella - the bacteria that causes the Legionnaire's disease - to thrive.

Ironically, this disease has symptoms similar to those associated with COVID-19. For instance, both conditions could cause fever, dry cough, and shortness of breath, which are symptoms commonly seen in COVID-19 patients.

Anne Clayson, an associate professor in occupational hygiene and occupational health at the University of Manchester, told Medical Daily that the disease "does not spread from person-to-person. But it can cause community outbreaks through contaminated water droplets from showerheads, taps, cooling towers, air-conditioning systems, spa pools, hot tubs, and water fountains."

Moreover, the Medical Daily news outlet also highlighted that L. pneumophilia naturally live in warm environments and feed on "pipework sludge and sediment."

The empty buildings due to coronavirus lockdowns caused the inactivity of the buildings which became the perfect breeding ground for the bacteria that causes the Legionnaire's disease, and eventually contaminating the building's water system.

How to Combat Legionnaire's Disease

Similar to COVID-19, Legionnaire's disease does not have any vaccine to prevent a person from getting infected. But the disease can be prevented.

To avoid getting infected with the Legionnaire's disease, Clayson advised the public and private officials to require a comprehensive assessment of water systems in offices, schools, and factories to reduce the risks associated with the new outbreak of this disease.

Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasized that building owners and managers maintain building water systems such as the hot tubs, hot water tanks and heaters, large plumbing systems, cooling towers, and decorative fountains.

They have developed a toolkit to help building owners and managers develop and implement regulations on water management to reduce risks of Legionella thriving in the area.