Key Points
- The Victorian Department of Health is investigating an outbreak of legionnaires’ disease in Melbourne.
- There have been
22 confirmed and 6 suspected33 confirmed and 10 suspected cases notifiedsince Friday afternoon.as of Tuesday afternoon.- The disease can cause a chest infection with symptoms of fever, chills, cough, headache and muscle aches and pains.
On Monday, Victoria’s Department of Health issued an alert advising people who live in, work in or have visited metropolitan Melbourne and surrounding areas to be on alert for symptoms of the disease.
“If you start feeling unwell, you’ve got a dry cough, you’re getting a bit of a fever, go to your physician straight away. The sooner you treat it, the better the outcome is,” he said.
Symptoms typically occur between two and 10 days after exposure. The disease is treated with antibiotics, as the bacteria is resistant to penicillin.
Worth noting:
Legionnaires’ disease is usually not spread from person to person. Outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease are usually limited to one geographical area, and a single source of infection.
https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/legionnaires-disease
Most healthy people exposed to Legionella don’t get sick.
Also a good summary from the CDC on how it spreads here:
I’m in Darwin, I have all the symptoms haha. But I’m sure it’s a regular cold
