How did Legionnaires disease get its name?
A. Legionnaires’ disease got its name from the first outbreak in which the organism was identified as the cause. This outbreak occurred in 1976, in a Philadelphia hotel where the Pennsylvania American Legion was having a convention. Over 200 Legionnaires and visitors at this convention developed pneumonia, and some died. From lung tissue, a newly discovered bacterium was found to be the cause of the pneumonia and was named Legionella pneumophila.
