1977 – esp. Sum-Fall, Legionella pneumophila (Legionnaires’), CA/2 OH/1 TN/3 VT/17–32

–32 CDC. “Follow-up on Legionnaires’ Disease – [US].” MMWR, V26, N52, 12-30-1977, 443.
–32 Garrett, Laurie. The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases… 1994, p. 190.

Narrative Information

CDC: “As of December 23, 1977, 150 sporadic cases of Legionnaires’ disease with onset since August 1976 confirmed by 4-fold or greater rise in indirect fluorescent antibody filter, demonstration of the causative bacterium in tissue by the direct fluorescent antibody technique, or growth of the bacterium from clinical specimens have been reported to CDC. These include 32 fatalities. In addition, several states have reported apparently localized clusters of confirmed cases occurring predominantly in the summer and autumn of 1977. The revised totals for these clusters are as follows: Ohio, 10 cases and 1 death; Vermont 32 cases and 17 deaths; Tennessee, 25 cases and 3 deaths; and California, 14 cases and 2 deaths.”

Garrett: “It wasn’t long [after 1976 Philadelphia outbreak] before similar cases of Legionnaires’ Disease surfaced all over the world. First, the CDC spotted isolated cases in eleven different states. By September 1977, the federal agency was busily tracking three hospital outbreaks in Ohio, one in Vermont, and one in Tennessee. The combined fatalities in the Ohio, Vermont and Tennessee outbreaks and sporadic isolated cases in 1977 reached thirty-two by December, about 25 percent of all reported Legionnaires’ cases.”

Sources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Follow-up on Legionnaires’ Disease – United States.” MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), Vol. 26, No. 52, 12-30-1977, p. 443. Accessed 5-26-2021 at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23292297?refreqid=excelsior%3A27936c38dfd44a10f267a3ced1f92cd8&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Garrett, Laurie. The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases In A World Out Of Balance. NY: Penguin Books, 1994.