In recent years, general interest has been directed towardcovid. The same interest in fact has seemed to wane in regard to other diseases.
Could this underestimation of the most commonly prevalent diseases be dangerous? Quite possibly, yes.
Take for example one of the potentially lethal respiratory diseases that are in circulation: legionellosis caused by the bacterium Legionella pneumophila. These microorganisms precisely are Gram-negative, intracellular pathogenic bacteria, whose serotype 1 is the most commonly reported cause of infections in humans Worldwide. Legionella infections can present in most cases as a mild, self-limiting flu-like illness called Pontiac fever. In some cases, especially in the presence of risk factors, such as advanced age, smoking, and conditions of immunodepression of various kinds, they can be a major cause of community-acquired and nosocomial pneumonia: legionnaires' disease. Symptoms typically occur 2 to 10 days after exposure to the pathogen and can take a varied and worsening clinical course. Acute respiratory failure is typical, characterized by very low blood oxygen pressure values and lung localizations of various types, infiltrates, thickening, interstitiopathy, pleural effusions. Sufferings of other organs and apparatuses may be associated in a septic-type picture. Classic is cerebral involvement brought about by a toxin, rather than true organ localization. If treated in time with the right antibiotics, macrolides, quinolones, rifampin, etc., it generally tends to resolve.
Prevention lies inavoiding exposure to humid and hot places where such bacteria can proliferate, such as air conditioning systems where filters have not been periodically serviced and cleaned; showers in which water is not circulated at temperatures above 50-60 degrees(temperature optimum for Legionella colony development is in fact 40 degrees or so); soils site of recent earthworks where water turn-over and stagnation occur; abandoned and reoccupied rooms or entire buildings with toilets partially out of use; cooling towers of industrial plants. The cue for this simple disquisition comes to me from the very recent notification of a post-lockdown case admitted to a Roman hospital referred to in the following link
Source:
Eurosurveillance Legionella pneumonia.
I myself recall in my career having taken a successful interest in my younger years in the diagnostic recognition and treatment of an epidemic outbreak that occurred among artists, painters and sculptors staying at the Danish Institute of Culture in Rome's Villa Borghese.
