Since the Covid-19 pandemic, many new diseases have been recorded. Some of them are rare diseases, and some are completely unknown. Recently, there was news of the death of 4 people from a strange disease in the Argentine province of Tucumán. The news itself is scary, because it is a serious form of pneumonia that is not that common.

The disease was reported in the Argentine province of Tucuman. Health Minister Luis Medina Ruiz told reporters that nine people, including eight medical workers at a private clinic, had a respiratory illness similar to pneumonia. It was said to be Legionnaires’ disease – a rare bacterial infection. However, some people are infected with it.

What is Legionnaires’ disease?

Legionnaires’ disease is a serious type of pneumonia, or lung infection caused by Legionella bacteria. You can get this disease through droplets in the nose or mouth when an infected person coughs or sneezes. The disease, which first appeared in 1976 at a meeting of the Group of American Armies in the American city of Philadelphia. It is associated with contaminated water or unclean air conditioning systems.

What are the symptoms of this disease

The symptoms of this disease are similar to pneumonia and covid

difficulty breathing
high temperature
pain in the body

So far, all cases have been linked to the same health clinic. The first cases of Legionnaires’ disease were reported between August 18 and 22.

This could be ‘patient zero’

Medina Ruiz said that a 70-year-old woman who underwent surgery at the clinic had just died. The victim itself was ‘patient zero’. In medical terms, “patient zero” is the first person in a population to be infected with a disease during an outbreak.

According to the Minister of Health, two people are currently suffering from this condition and are in the hospital due to severe shortness of breath. It said there was no evidence yet of ‘person-to-person transmission’.

The patients were kept in isolation for seven days while Argentine health officials study the origin and nature of the outbreak.

Hector Sel, president of the Tucumán Provincial Medical College, said at this point there is no evidence of ‘person-to-person transmission’ because no patients are housed with other patients.