Four individuals in a clinic in the northwest Tucuman province died on Saturday, according to Argentine health officials. Legionnaires’ disease is a relatively uncommon bacterial infection of the lungs.
The four, who also experienced high fevers, body aches, and breathing difficulties, were found to have double pneumonia, according to Health Minister Carla Vizzotti. Legionnaires’ disease was found to be the underlying cause of the illness.
All of the fatalities since Monday have happened in a single clinic in San Miguel de Tucuman.
The most recent occurred on Saturday morning and included a 48-year-old male with underlying medical issues. Another casualty was a 70-year-old woman who had undergone surgery at the clinic.
According to provincial officials, seven additional symptomatic cases from the same establishment—all of which involved clinic staff—have been found.
According to provincial health minister Luis Medina Ruiz, of those seven, “four are hospitalized, three of them are under respiratory help, and three are under home surveillance, with less complicated clinical signs.”
The illness, which initially surfaced during an American Legion veterans gathering in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1976, has been connected to tainted water or dirty air conditioning units.
When the Tucuman outbreak was originally discovered, medical professionals examined the sick for Covid-19, the flu, and the hantavirus but ruled out all of them.
The prominent Malbran Institute in Buenos Aires received the samples after that. Tests conducted there indicated Legionnaires’.
Medina Ruiz had stated on Wednesday that “toxic and environmental reasons” could not be completely ruled out. He mentioned that the climate control systems in the clinic were being examined.
According to Vizzotti, officials are striving to make the facility secure for both personnel and clients.
This Thursday, Tucuman Provincial Medical College President Hector Sale referred to the bacterial infection as “aggressive”
He did, however, emphasize that it is not often spread from person to person and that none of the 11 affected individuals’ close contacts displayed symptoms.
