An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease at the Illinois Veterans' Home in Quincy, Illinois, has infected 35 infected people and killed seven, according to the Chicago Tribune. Officials expect additional cases in the coming weeks, since people with underlying medical conditions are at an increased risk of developing the disease.
The outbreak comes on the heels of similar cases across the country this summer. In New York City, 128 people were sickened and 12 people died of Legionnaires' disease as the result of a contaminated water cooler at the Opera House Hotel in the Bronx.
In August, California's corrections department reported an outbreak at San Quentin State Prison, with at least six inmates infected and an additional 85 inmates under observation for the disease as of Tuesday.
While media attention surrounding the New York City outbreaks may make it seem like an unusual year for Legionnaires', the disease activity this summer is pretty much "par for the course," Dr. Matthew Moore, a medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Associated Press.
Most people get Legionnaires' disease by inhaling air contaminated with the bacteria Legionella, which can grow in moist environments such as water cooling towers, swimming pools, decorative fountains and the water systems in hotels, hospitals and nursing homes. Symptoms of the disease include headache, muscle pains, chills and fever.
While Legionnaires' can be deadly -- the Mayo Clinic considers it a severe form of pneumonia -- it's not contagious, and can't be spread through person-to-person contact. Individuals older than the age of 50, smokers and those with weakened immune systems are at highest risk of contracting the disease.
Although between 8,000 and 18,000 people are hospitalized with Legionnaires' disease every year, the majority of the cases reported are sporadic, according to the CDC.
Still, sporadic though cases may be, Ohio and western Pennsylvania are Legionnaires' disease hot spots, according to Dr. Paul Edelstein, director of clinical microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. In particular, the rate of Legionnaires' disease in Pennsylvania's Allegheny county was more than double the statewide average, according to a TribLive report published in 2013, although the reason for the concentration of the disease in the region isn't known.
Here's this year's outbreak, by the numbers:
World's Infectious Diseases
Cholera (01 of10)
Open Image ModalHaiti's recent outbreak of cholera has sickened over 3,000 residents and claimed the lives of 250. (credit:Getty )
Swine Flu (02 of10)
Open Image ModalEarlier this month, a new strain of the H1N1 virus, better known as "swine flu," had begun to show up in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. (credit:Getty )
Mad Cow Disease(03 of10)
Open Image ModalBovine spongiform encephalopathy, or "mad cow disease," can be transmitted to humans via contaminated beef, and by 2009, a recent outbreak had killed 166 people in Britain alone. (credit:Getty )
Bird Flu (04 of10)
Open Image ModalBird flu, otherwise known as the H5N1 virus, is identified by flu-like symptoms spread by birds. In 2009, the World Health Organization announced a total of 447 cases worldwide. (credit:Getty )
Spinal Meningitis (05 of10)
Open Image ModalSevere cases of spinal meningitis can result in brain damage or death. Recent outbreaks have taken place in Nigeria and Chad. (credit:Getty )
Ebola (06 of10)
Open Image ModalCongo, Sudan and Uganda have suffered the worst outbreaks of Ebola -- a severe viral disease in humans and primates that causes fever, internal bleeding and skin rash -- in recent years. (credit:Getty )
Malaria(07 of10)
Open Image ModalThe mosquito-borne infectious disease is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, and affects an estimated 250 million people each year, the majority of whom are young children in sub-Saharan Africa. (credit:Getty )
Dengue Fever(08 of10)
Open Image ModalThe World Health Organization estimates that 2.5 billion people in both urban and rural areas are vulnerable to dengue fever, which is spread by mosquitoes. (credit:Getty )
Polio(09 of10)
Open Image ModalOften called polio or infantile paralysis, poliomyelitis is an acute viral infectious disease spread from person to person, primarily via the fecal-oral route. Tajikistan and Angola have most recently experienced outbreaks. (credit:Getty )
Lyme Disease(10 of10)
Open Image ModalA new statewide survey, reported in the Journal of Pediatrics, found that only a small fraction of U.S. doctors are able to properly identify the symptoms of Lyme disease, the most common tick-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere. (credit:Getty )
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