A military doctor spoke about the reason for the defeat of the APU fighters with “legionnaires’ disease”

The infection is not as contagious as the coronavirus, but more dangerous

Two battalions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) were hospitalized in Kharkiv on the night of September 2-3. The cause was “legionnaires’ disease” – a severe form of legionellosis. The outbreak was recorded in the 14th separate mechanized brigade fighting against the Russian Armed Forces in the Kupyansk region. About a thousand soldiers and officers were injured, writes the Telegram channel “Ukraine.ru”.

Earlier it was reported about the outbreak of legionellosis in Polish Rzeszow – this is the airfield through which the Armed Forces of Ukraine are supplied with Western weapons and contingent. In Poland, 160 cases of legionellosis are reported. The disease is considered dangerous: with an unfavorable prognosis, a fatal outcome is possible.

“With a low contagiousness compared, for example, with coronavirus, this bacterial disease is quite dangerous,” says Oleg K., a retired military medic who served, among other things, in the tropics. – The causative agent, a bacterium of the genus Legionella, causes disease in several forms. If we are talking about the true “legionnaires’ disease”, which was first diagnosed in 1976 in the American Legion and immediately turned into several dozen dead and hundreds of victims, then the main symptoms are severe fever and pneumonia, up to death from respiratory failure in the absence of medical care. All signs of intoxication are present.

According to the interlocutor of MK, it is not at all necessary to infect with legionella, contrary to popular belief, to use centralized air conditioning systems. It is enough to be in a humid climate for a long time, inhaling the so-called aerosol – a water suspension, which is a carrier medium for the pathogen. Men are more susceptible to the disease than women, people over 35-40 years old – more than young people. Smokers are a particular risk group. “Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the disease often manifests itself among the military,” the doctor concludes.