An outbreak of Pontiac fever related to whirlpool use, Michigan 1982.
Fourteen of 23 female members of a church group experienced an acute self-limited illness characterized by chills, fever, chest pain, cough, and nausea, consistent with the diagnosis of Pontiac fever. All 14 affected women had used a whirlpool located in the women's locker room during a racquetball party. Legionella pneumophila serogroup 6 was isolated from the women's whirlpool. Nine of 14 cases showed a seroconversion to heat-fixed antigen prepared from the L pneumophila serogroup 6 isolate. Aerosol size studies show that the whirlpool aerator produced water droplets small enough to travel deep into the tracheobronchial tree but large enough to transport L pneumophila. This outbreak demonstrated that Pontiac fever may be associated with L pneumophila serogroup 6, that whirlpools can serve as a reservoir for these organisms, and that seroconversion can occur in the absence of illness.
D000328:Adult; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D001494:Baths / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007875:Legionella / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008297:Male; D008824:Michigan; D012306:Risk; D014871:Water Microbiology
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial