Not the Flu An American Legion Convention beginning on this date in 1976 was the focal point for the hunt for a deadly disease that killed 29 of the conventioneers. Others who attended the Philadelphia convention were hospitalized with mysterious flu-like symptoms, including high fever, chest pains and lung congestions. Soon, Legionnaires' disease spread to 19 states. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta conducted one of the biggest and most intensive medical investigations. In 1978, when the bacterium Legionella pneumophila was isolated from water in a cooling tower at an Indiana hotel. Finally, the source of the bacterium was traced to hotel air-conditioning systems.
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