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Elliot Olsen has more than 20 years’ experience representing people harmed by Legionnaires’ disease, and he has regained millions of dollars in compensation for them. If you or a family member has become sick in this Illinois Veterans Home Legionnaires’ outbreak, please call him at 612-337-6126, or complete the following:
A third resident has taken ill with Legionnaires’ disease at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy (IVHQ), according to a Nov. 28 news release from the Illinois Department of Health. Two residents were sickened with Legionnaires’ disease in October.
A third Legionnaires’ disease case in two months was confirmed Nov. 28 at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy.
The illnesses come two years after a 2015 outbreak at the IVHQ in which 12 people died and 53 others were sickened.
The most recent sickened resident was diagnosed while being treated at a local hospital but has since been released. One of the two individuals sickened in October died.
The IVHQ undertook a nearly $5 million, state-of-the-art rehabilitation of its water-treatment plant in the summer of 2016. There were four cases of Legionnaires’ disease at the facility in 2016, including three after the rehabbed plant was made operational.
Legionnaires’ symptoms
Legionnaires’ disease looks like other forms of pneumonia or even flu, which is why so many cases go unreported every year. Early symptoms can include:
- chills
- fever, which can be 104 or higher
- headaches
- appetite loss
- muscle aches.
After the first few days, symptoms can worsen to include:
- chest pain when breathing, called pleuritic chest pain (due to inflamed lungs)
- confusion and agitation
- a cough, which may bring up mucus and blood
- diarrhea
- nausea
- vomiting
- shortness of breath.
The incubation period – that is, the time between contracting the bacteria and developing symptoms – is usually 2 to 10 days. It can, however, be as much as 16 days.
Who is at risk?
Anyone can get Legionnaires’ disease, but those at the greatest risk of infection include:
- people 50 or older
- current or former smokers
- heavy drinkers of alcohol
- people with chronic lung disease
- people with weakened immune systems
- organ-transplant recipients
- people who are following specific drug protocols (corticosteroids, for example).
