Melbourne, Australia, June 3, (PRINTWORDS NEWS) The disease has broken out in Australia and this time it is the third victim who has fallen a prey to the legionnaires disease. A person from Victoria who had been detected with the legionnaires virus has been reported as dead. The government of Australia has announced that whoever had visited the Doncaster area or had been to the Westfield Doncaster shopping center before the 26th of last month will have to undergo a test to detect whether the person has already acquired the virus or not.
This however is not the first time that the legionnaires disease has been detected in the country. Last year too at least four people succumbed to the disease and more than 25 people were severely affected by the virus. This year the number has leaped up with 40 cases detected in Victoria alone. The first person to be detected with the bacteria hailed from Macau, but health practitioners in Australia considered his case to be a special one considering that the person was in his own city for 10 days prior to being attacked by the bacteria, also the fact that the people who were in touch with him did not acquire the same symptoms kept the doctors in peace. Medical practitioners in Australia termed his case as “isolated”.
So what is the legionnaires disease? People in India are not very familiar with the term because no such cases have been reported in our country where the cause of death is the legionnaires disease. I am quite sure that 90% of the people who have come across this news are not aware of the term. Well the disease is a bacterial infection and it is highly contagious, which means that anybody who has acquired the disease will also affect the person living in close contact with him or her.
The legionnaires disease derives its name from the Legionella bacteria. There are many types of bacteria which fall under the Legionella genus and it is said that 35 species of the same bacteria can lead to the legionnaires disease in a person. The disease is marked by high fever which in many cases turns to a severe form of pneumonia. That is why the disease is also known as Legion Fever.
The fatality rate of the disease is however not very high. The Legion Fever has not been detected in many countries around the world and the good news is that it does not cause many deaths too. The death rate in patients of the Legion Fever falls in the margin of 5% to 30%. Also it has been observed that children are not much affected by the legionnaires disease. The bacterias probably love the middle aged and the old people more! However the death rates go up once the person who is a patient of the legionnaires disease is admitted in hospital. The condition must be really serious when one is taken to a hospital, with doctors not being able to save more than 50% of them.
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