Legionnaires' disease is known since the mid seventies of the last century, when it was first discovered that the participants of the congress of the American Legion, hence its name. This is quite a serious disease that affects many organs and systems, but especially affects the lungs.

What is Legionnaires' disease and how it is possible to get sick

Legionnaires' disease (legionellosis) - an acute infectious disease caused by various bacteria of the genus Legionella. The disease runs hard, with high fever, breach of the general condition of the patient, pneumonia and lesions of other organs and systems, including the brain.

For the first time the disease, similar to Legionnaires' disease was described in 1949, has since been a series of similar outbreaks of disease, and only about 30 years after the description of the first cases were finally allocated the infection pathogens - Legionella. Today allocated about 40 species of Legionella, 17 of which cause legionellosis. Some Legionella cause disease only at lower immunity.

Legionella are common in the environment and can remain there for a long time, especially in an aqueous medium at a temperature of 60 ° C to. Therefore legionellosis infection is considered to be man-made: infectious agents propagate in air conditioners, showers, water pipes and hoses. Furthermore, Legionella can multiply in water bodies with warm fresh water.

In humans, Legionella get airborne by inhalation of water aerosols (eg during showering), air-dust way by inhalation of dust containing Legionella, as well as when they hit the water freshwater during bathing. Most outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease are observed in people living in the same hotel or camping, so the disease is sometimes called Legionnaires disease travelers.

It enters the body through the mucous membranes of legionella airways, penetrating into its cells, multiply there and spread to the whole of broncho-pulmonary system. Pneumonia caused by Legionella, usually captures the whole lobes of the lungs, and the flow is very difficult.

Statistics revealed that the most likely to develop Legionnaires' disease among people traveling in the warmer months, smokers and drinkers of men older than 40 years with reduced immunity.

Symptoms of Legionnaires' disease

The incubation period of Legionnaires' disease (time from infection until the first signs of the disease) ranges from 2 to 10 days. After that, the person has a weakness, fatigue, weakness, headache, sometimes - diarrhea.

After a while, sharply rises and the temperature increases, reaching very high numbers. Deteriorating general condition of the patient: there is a fever, increasing headache, lethargy, confusion, muscle aches and joint pain, dry cough Dry cough - whether to worry about it? . Gradually the mucus becomes moist, with mucus, pus and blood. There are chest pain, worse with a deep breath and cough - this indicates that the process involved pleura (serous membrane covering the lungs), and increasing shortness of breath.

Sometimes the fore signs of intoxication (poisoning toxins secreted by infectious agents): nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain Abdominal pain: Types and Symptoms , Severe headaches. When brain damage can occur disturbance of consciousness, speech disorders, convulsions. As a result of poisoning by toxins can cause acute impairment of kidney function - acute renal failure.

Heavy state usually lasts about two weeks, then (with adequate and timely begun treatment) begins a slow recovery with a gradual decrease in temperature and restoration of function of the affected organs. In some cases, if severe and untimely begun treating patients die from severe pneumonia or acute renal failure Acute renal failure - causes and consequences .

Diagnosis and treatment of Legionnaires' disease

The diagnosis of Legionnaires' disease put on the basis of general clinical (revealed signs of inflammation), biochemical (liver and kidney), microbiology (identification of pathogens in specialized laboratories) and immunologic (identifying in the patient's blood antibodies to infectious agents that appear within a week after the start disease).

Treatment of the disease is carried out only in a hospital. Prescribe antibiotics. Legionella are sensitive to erythromycin Erythromycin - if you are allergic to penicillin , Chloramphenicol, ampicillin, and fluoroquinolones (such as tsiprolet) but sensitive to antibiotics, which are conventionally used in the treatment of pneumonia - penicillin and cephalosporins. Assign high doses of antibiotics to reduce the temperature stable.

Legionnaires' disease - a serious illness, largely due to the increased anthropogenic environment.

Galina Romanenko

Lobar pneumonia (pneumonia) can occur at any age, but most often a disease occurs in children after five years, adolescents and men. Especially hard lobar pneumonia takes place against the background of reduced immunity, children and the elderly.

Why start lobar pneumonia, and what happens in the lungs

Lung fever Pneumonia - Symptoms and Causes   - A process that captures all lobe or her most. It starts lobar pneumonia, as a rule, with a sharp and sudden decrease in immunity. Such a reduction in the body's defenses can occur, for example, prolonged colds, heavy physical exertion, stress, fasting and so on. Most lobar pneumonia sick people with reduced immunity, including smoking, alcohol and drug abusers, chronically ill, elderly.

As a result of the impact of pathogenic microflora, constantly living on the surface of our body and the mucous membranes, activated and greatly increases in volume. To conditionally pathogenic microflora and are pneumococci, which often can be found in the respiratory tract of healthy humans.

Pneumococci break through and penetrate the body's defense in the lung tissue, and they produce toxins that affect the entire lobe. Under these toxins increases the permeability of minute blood vessels, part of the liquid protein (fibrin), and blood cell infiltrates into the alveoli. The infectious-inflammatory process in lung tissue in lobar pneumonia occurs in cycles, in several stages:

• first step - primary, lasts about three days and is characterized by vasodilation, flushing them the appearance of blood and alveolar fluid;
• the second stage - red hepatization in which the alveoli rush red blood cells (RBCs) and fibrin, which are squeezed out of the alveolar air; This process leads to the fact that the lung tissue becomes like a liver tissue;
• third stage - gray hepatization - to the site of inflammation receives a large number of white blood cells whose main task - to destroy the infectious agents; second and third stage - a stage height of the disease, which lasts about five days;
• fourth stage - resolution (comes in one - two weeks); exudate starts to partially dissolve and partly hawk with phlegm.

Symptoms of lobar pneumonia in the initial stage

It starts lobar pneumonia, usually acute, suddenly. It appears high fever, chills, weakness, headache and pain in the side that increases with breathing and coughing, shortness of breath increases. During this period, a very large risk of severe cardiovascular complications is sharply reduced blood pressure and collapse may occur.

In the early days of the disease may not have a cough or it is dry, very painful. Chest pain is so severe that the patient is afraid to breathe and breathe only superficially. During external examination the patient's attention is drawn to the sharp dyspnea: shortness of breath with nasal flaring. On the affected side can be seen lagging behind the chest in the act of breathing in and breathing part of the intercostal muscles. Pain may enroll in the stomach, resulting in lobar pneumonia is often confused with acute diseases of the abdominal cavity (acute appendicitis, acute cholecystitis, acute pancreatitis, peritonitis). The pains are most often associated with lesions of the pleura - the serous membrane that covers the lungs, where a lot of nerve endings.

Symptoms of lobar pneumonia in the heat of disease stage

Increasing signs of intoxication on the part of the central nervous system (CNS): delirium and confusion. Especially significant changes in the central nervous system in people who abuse alcohol, they may go into acute psychosis. Due to lower immunity on the lips and nose wings often bubbles appear herpes simplex Herpes simplex - in fact, not so simple . A typical manifestation of lobar pneumonia is the appearance of blush on the cheek on the affected side. At the same time may appear cyanosis of nasolabial triangle and lips, ears and fingertips.

Initially dry cough and painful after a few days it becomes wet. Sputum with the viscous, transparent initially gradually takes the form of "rusty" because of the presence in her blood.

Symptoms of lobar pneumonia in the stage of recovery

Heat lasts for one to two weeks, and then decreases rapidly - a so-called crisis, after which the patient is gradually beginning to recover. But there could be serious complications, especially on the part of the cardiovascular system: a sharp drop in blood pressure Blood pressure - dangerous if his swing?   and heart failure.

Today, the crisis is quite rare, since the use of antibiotics Antibiotics - whether they will help you in the foreseeable future?   change the picture of the disease and the temperature in most cases is reduced during the treatment within three days. Cough becomes less painful, the number of sputum increases, it becomes more liquid.

Lobar pneumonia is almost always occurs with pleurisy, but he rarely purulent as used antibiotics. Sometimes debilitated patients lobar pneumonia can give complication of the heart (myocarditis), kidney (nephritis) and central nervous system (meningitis), but nowadays it happens very rarely.

In general, the disease lasts for at least a month.

Galina Romanenko