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Meanwhile, it was discovered that it was not the flu as in 1918, a possible
national epidemic was ruled out.
But they had a virus or a bacterium as the cause of the problem, known
or unknown?
The media was still pressuring, since it had passed several days without
any answers. It was election year and the theme of a possible attack on
American heroes was still going around.
They started to evaluate the assumption of a terrorist attack and
initiate studies to verify if the food and water distributed in the city was
contaminated.
The deaths continued andmore participants were admitted to hospitals,
some with severe symptoms and others with less severe symptoms, but in
large quantities.
On August 5th, 1976, the epidemic becomes known as Legionnaires’
Disease.
The situation worsens when several legionnaires and their families who
were not contaminated start being discriminated by people who believed that
all of themwere contaminated, many lost their jobs and Philadelphia entered
the worst economic crisis. Philadelphia is now known as the cursed city.
The CDC makes a breakthrough after evaluating the questionnaires
of the people who attended the convention and review all cases of patients
who died and who were still hospitalized. All of the victims had stayed at
The Bellevue Stratford Hotel. This fact caught the attention of researchers
because it was the only thing in common with all who acquired the
Legionnaires’ Disease.
