Police officers stand outside Luz Medica hospital, where nine people infected with bilateral pneumonia of unknown origin have been treated, in Tucuman, Argentina, on Sept. 1, 2022.Sept. 3, 2022, 8:10 PM UTCAn illness that has stricken 10 people in Argentina, killing three, may have been the result of Legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease, health officials said Saturday.
“The suspicion is that it is an outbreak of legionella pneumophila,” Dr. Carla Vizzotti, the country’s health minister, said in a statement.The Legionella bacteria can be transmitted when people breathe in small droplets of water or accidentally swallow water containing the bacteria into the lungs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can cause Legionnaires’ disease, a serious type of pneumonia.
The three who died had preexisting conditions, or comorbidity, the ministry said. Among the dead was a 70-year-old woman who had gallbladder surgery at the clinic, Ruiz said. The World Health Organization’s agency for the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization, said Argentina’s Ministry of Health informed it of the initial cluster of six patients on Tuesday.