TAMPA, Fla. — As students head back to campuses, and maybe you head back to the office, something to think about is Legionnaires' disease.
We know, one more thing to think about right? But this is actually easy to take care of before it becomes a problem.
Here's the concern: campuses and businesses were closed for months because of coronavirus, so the water system wasn't moving. With the water just sitting there, the Legionnaires' disease just sits there.
Yes, we chlorinate the water, but if it's not moving, it starts to disappear. Once the chlorine is gone, the Legionnaires start growing.
Once a sink is turned on or a toilet flushed, the bacteria is sent through the air.
"The businesses, the universities, colleges, they're the ones that need to make sure they're either hyper-chlorinating that system or in some way flushing out those lines to make sure it's safe," says Dr. Jill Roberts, an infectious disease expert with USF College of Public Health.
Roberts says the biggest concern for Legionnaires here in Florida is in hot tubs. That water sits stagnant, you turn it on, it makes steam and you breathe in the bacteria.
Symptoms of Legionnaires present like coronavirus. But COVID-19 is viral, Legionnaires' is a bacterial infection that can be treated with antibiotics.
Consider your exposures: If you've been around someone that tested positive, get tested.
10 Tampa Bay digital photojournalist Tamika Cody did a story about Legionnaires' back in May. Doctors say cases increase in spring and summer months.
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