A potentially fatal form of pneumonia, Legionnaire’s disease has been infecting around 10,000 to 18,000 Americans each year, and now, we may be able to reduce this number. The main key to doing so seems to be determining the origins of the condition. While we know that the bacteria of the disease, Legionella, typically live in freshwater sources, such as rivers, lakes, and streams, we didn’t know how they thrived to become a threat until now.
This discovery may lead to new forms of protection against the disease.
For a study published by the American Society for Microbiology, researchers noted that Legionella lives inside protozoa, single-celled organisms that also live in moist habitats. They multiply within the organisms, and eventually, those organisms die once the Legionella has been released. However, that is not always the case. Legionella is not the only bacteria that survives in protozoa. There are also endosymbionts, bacteria that live in protozoans without harming them.
Based on a number of experiments with these endosymbionts, the researchers discovered that these bacteria actually affect how well Legionella can spread. For instance, sometimes endosymbionts can end up taking most of the nutrition from inside protozoa, leaving Legionella too weak to be that infectious.
While not necessarily noted in the study, this news could eventually lead to a way of minimizing Legionella and its spread. Perhaps, scientists will be able to introduce more endosymbionts to protozoa in habitats that commonly host Legionella. This could, in effect, weaken enough of the existing Legionella to make Legionnaire’s disease non-existent.
In the meantime, if you do catch it, there is still hope.
Unfortunately, any sort of potential protection that could come from this research has not yet been looked into, but there is another form of protection already out. So if you happen to catch the deadly Legionnaire’s disease, don’t worry! Your doctor will likely prescribe you with Biaxin (clarithromycin), which should effectively treat you.
But like many other prescription medications, Biaxin can seem quite expensive. Luckily, there are international and Canadian pharmacy referral services like Canada Med Pharmacy to help. They can connect Americans to licensed pharmacies that are outside the United States where prescription prices are typically cheaper.
Legionnaire’s disease can be deadly. But armed with this new knowledge and readily available medication through pharmacy referral services, you can breathe a sigh of relief. There are ways to counter the condition with little to no worry.
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