Aug. 30, 2011: Legionellosis Cases Tripled in U.S. from 2000 to 2009
ATLANTA — According to officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of legionellosis cases reported each year to the CDC among United States residents more than tripled between 2000 and 2009 from 1,110 cases to 3,522 cases.
Older individuals and people living in the Northeast are most at risk for developing legionellosis, although legionellosis occurred in all age groups and regions. Legionellosis can refer to either Legionnaires disease, a serious, sometimes lethal pneumonia, or Pontiac fever, a flu-like, self-limited illness, but almost all of the cases reported to CDC were Legionnaires disease.