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as America celebrated its 200th birthday
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as an independent nation its birthplace
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Philadelphia played host to millions of
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tourists and hundreds of business
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Gatherings Philadelphia made history
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that summer but not for the
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bicentennial it was the mysterious death
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of 34 people that left a tragic Legacy
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and launched the most extensive medical
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investigation in history
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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the summer of 1976 was a busy time for
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the city of Philadelphia filled with
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Bicentennial celebrations tourist
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activities and business conventions it
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should have been a time of celebration
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for City officials as well but they
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faced a number of unexpected
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difficulties sanitation workers staged a
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work slowdown over a wage dispute and
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the mountains of uncollected garbage
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created serious health concerns then
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there was a terrorist threat an
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anonymous tip warning of possible
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violence at the upcoming American
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legionnaires convention in protest
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against recent US foreign policy
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decisions that convention was to be
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headquartered here at the Belleview
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Stratford Hotel one of Philadelphia's
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finest and it was having some of its own
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problems hello I received a service call
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I'm here to check the air conditioner
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sure come on in the hotel's air
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conditioning system was malfunctioning
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and men were doing all they could to get
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it up and running before the
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convention hotel security was also
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working to make sure that prostitutes
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were kept away from the hotel during the
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busy summer season on July 21st 4500
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legionnaires from around the state of
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Pennsylvania arrived in Philadelphia for
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their annual get together it was a time
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for business and to renew old
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friendships everybody was looking
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forward to it uh a jolly jol old time
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where we uh naturally had meetings to
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attend and so forth but normally the
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business would be over by noon and we
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could
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then uh go out and visit the city I had
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been to three or four conventions I
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think in Pittsburgh one in
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Harrisburg and I I really didn't know
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that much about Philly I knew it's a big
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city I was anxious too
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after 3 days of business and pleasure
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the 4500 legionnaires returned home the
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convention had ended but a mystery began
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to
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unfold Lord welcome into your presence 8
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Days Later in Williamstown Pennsylvania
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legionaires James Dolan and John Ralph
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died suddenly under mysterious
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circumstances both had attended the
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convention in Philadelphia I don't think
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we've had two Korean veterans die in the
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same year alone uh 2 days apart from
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each other the official cause of death
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pneumonia the coroner described their
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lungs as resembling brillo pads within
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days other legionnaires fell ill I laid
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around the house for about two days and
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uh I I just kept feeling worse and
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worse my oldest boy was there and he
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said Dad I'm taking you to the doctor
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there must be something wrong with you
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the mysterious illness struck swiftly
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first headache then muscle and chest
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pain and fever which could get as high
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as
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107° within 3 weeks 11 more legionnaires
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died and I thought boy here I am if I'm
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going to die I mean I had five
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kids that makes you think a
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lot and I thought oh boy I hope that's
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not me authorities in the state capital
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of Harrisburg feared an epidemic and
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quickly called in the Centers for
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Disease Control to investigate Dr David
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Frasier led the
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investigation we had a situation which
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when we first heard about the uh the
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problem there had been four deaths
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quickly thereafter we heard of 11 deaths
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uh and and and it increased from that
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point so uh this was occurring from
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unknown cause in a major city in in the
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United States and uh had to have
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everybody's attention Frasier's first
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task to find out why some Legionnaire
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were getting sick and others weren't
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which at its most basic involves
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comparing what people did who became
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sick with what people did who stayed
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well the investigation would be
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complicated the legionnaires were spread
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throughout the state and gathering
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information would be difficult Dr
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Frasier had some theories but little
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else the investigation into the death of
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the American legionnaires would become
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the largest and most complicated medical
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investigation in
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history by the time Dr David Fraser and
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his team arrived in Philadelphia the
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death rate among the infected
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legionnaires was 20% and Rising 11
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legionnaires were dead and 39 more were
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seriously ill all of the legionnaires
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who died had a form of pneumonia but
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investigators had no idea what was
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causing it there more deaths in
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Pennsylvania from a disease still not
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identified because of the the outbreak
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was worldwide news and the Press had
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given it a name ever since the
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Legionnaire disease became a major
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national story The Daily Press reports
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fueled the fear many citizens felt and
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nowhere was that fear more evident than
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in the town of messen
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Pennsylvania Andrew hornack was a bus
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driver who had driven a drum and bugle
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core to the legionnaires convention in
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Philadelphia after he arrived home he
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fell ill and died from legionaire
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disease although he was extremely
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popular few of his friends went to pay
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their last respects well we've had a
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very sparse uh visitation at the funeral
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home because uh our uh people seem to
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feel that there might be some danger
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involved to their own life Dr Lewis pulk
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was Philadelphia's Health commissioner
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and understood people's fears if you
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deal with a catastrophe of a known cause
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whether it's a flood a fire an
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earthquake whatever even though it may
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cause a lot of damage and even kill a
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lot of people somehow as human beings
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all of us can deal with a known cause
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catastrophe better than an unknown cause
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a true mystery Dr Frasier and the
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Centers for Disease Control needed to
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gather information investigators Chris
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Cross the state to interview sick
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legionnaires at the go-getter breakfast
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on Friday did you have the coffee just
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the coffee no no Ro they sent detailed
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questionnaires to everyone who attended
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the convention on Friday the 23rd how
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often did you ride the main
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elevators man I don't know how many they
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collected hundreds of dust air water and
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ice samples as well as rat and pigeon
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droppings from every Hotel used by the
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legionnaires anything which might be of
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interest to the biologists and
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toxicologists of the CDC was sent to
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Atlanta for analysis and tissue samples
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from the autopsies were also collected
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and analyzed CDC investigators had
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plenty of competing theories swine flu
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was at the top of their list since the
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symptoms were similar parrot fever was
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also a possibility a disease spread by
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sick pigeons
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perhaps a massive case of food poisoning
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caused by a problem at one of the
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convention's half dozen hotels there
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were some thoughts early on that people
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in town for a convention possibly might
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have overindulged in one of several ways
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whether
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it's drinking or sex or something was it
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a new strain of venial disease called
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super ganara the symptoms were similar
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to Super ganara and there had been two
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outbreaks in other cities earlier that
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year or did the outbreak stem from the
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rats and the recent sanitation strike
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which left mountains of uncollected
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garbage in the very streets the
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legionnaires walked through and what
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about the anonymous tip about a possible
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terrorist attack was it possible the
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legionnaires had been poisoned but one
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of the most puzzling questions was why
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some legionnaires developed the disease
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While others did not after legionaire
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Bob mcgary's roommate developed
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pneumonia the CDC wanted him to get to a
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hospital right away when I told him what
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I was there for they rolled out the red
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carpet and uh they uh gave me a physical
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like I never had before in my life they
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wanted every type
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of uh
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Slava urine and anything else that I
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could give them to be sent to the
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Disease Control Center in Atlanta
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Georgia what we found though in in our
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survey of Roommates was that being a
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roommate of somebody with legionaire
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disease didn't increase your chance of
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getting Legionnaire's
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Disease and and uh that's that was a
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very important finding because it
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suggested that first of all exposure
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wasn't occurring in the
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bedrooms there and it also suggested it
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wasn't spread person to person within 48
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Hours the first tissue specimen analyzed
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by the CDC eliminated typhoid the Lassa
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and marberg viruses peruses and the
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plague and after 5 days they eliminated
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many more including herpes MPS and
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measles viruses as well as some of their
00:10:46
top suspects blood tests also eliminated
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the possibility that it was super ganara
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the CDC had eliminated a number of
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possibilities but they still couldn't ID
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identified the killer the questionnaires
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yielded some important information among
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the various hotels we surveyed the
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highest rate of illness that looked like
00:11:09
legionaire disase was among people who
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were registered at the B Stratford hotel
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and specifically in the week of the
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American Legion convention however there
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were some victims of Legionnaire disease
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who weren't legionnaires at all hadn't
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attended their convention and never set
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foot inside the Belleview Stratford
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Hotel there were people who walked along
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the sidewalk in front of the Bell
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statford who got sick who never went
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inside or on the street across the way
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indeed we found that people the more
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time people spent on the sidewalk in
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front of the B statford the more likely
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they were it get sick but for some
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unknown reason none of the employees of
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the Belleview Stratford Hotel contracted
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the disease what were the common factors
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among those who did most were over the
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age of 50 50 17 of the first 21
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fatalities were smokers and some had
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other underlying illnesses when Frasier
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reviewed the Belleview Stratford's
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employees he discovered that on average
00:12:13
they were 10 years younger and healthier
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than those who got sick by now 27 were
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dead the death toll was mounting and
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Frasier still had no idea what was
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killing these people or how it was being
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spread Dr Frasier and his team were
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convinced the outbreak of Legionnaire's
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Disease had something to do with the
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Belleview Stratford hotel but they
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hadn't found the connection it's just
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amazing you know I just can't figure it
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out why some would get sick and others
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did not right right because as I said I
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slept in the same room with two Fells
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that are dead Frasier believed that the
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agent or cause of the disease came from
00:13:01
somewhere near the Belleview statford
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hotel and since individuals on the
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street had also developed the disease
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that told him something else we had uh
00:13:12
uh some evidence that it was not water
00:13:15
born or foodborn and so we were
00:13:18
developing the idea that this might be
00:13:20
an Airborne infection but we had some
00:13:21
additional questions to answer about
00:13:24
that but if the agent was inside the
00:13:26
hotel Frasier's medical Detective
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detectives couldn't find it and since
00:13:31
the outbreak was slowing down he
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believed the cause might now be gone his
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only hope was that the scientists in the
00:13:39
lab could find it at the University of
00:13:42
Connecticut Dr William Sunderman
00:13:44
received an anonymous letter saying that
00:13:47
the legionnaires were intentionally
00:13:49
poisoned while in Philadelphia Sunderman
00:13:52
turned the letter over to the FBI but
00:13:54
Sunderman was an expert on nickel
00:13:56
carbonal a clear odorless liquid easily
00:14:00
transformed into a lethal gas he did a
00:14:03
little of his own research nickel could
00:14:06
spread through the air that it certainly
00:14:09
could cause pneumonia that it caused a
00:14:12
particular pattern of pneumonia that was
00:14:15
not so different from what we were
00:14:17
seeing in the Legionnaire cases as to be
00:14:19
obviously uh excludable tests on liver
00:14:24
samples revealed that nickel was present
00:14:27
in those who died Dr William Sunderman
00:14:30
the chief
00:14:31
toxicologist doing the research work at
00:14:34
the University of Connecticut has pretty
00:14:36
well established that it was nickel
00:14:38
carbonel but Dr sunderman's Discovery
00:14:41
was not the Breakthrough after days of
00:14:44
testing researchers suspected that
00:14:47
nickel was peeling off of the scalpel
00:14:50
used during the autopsies when plastic
00:14:53
scalpel were used the nickel was no
00:14:55
longer present investigators were no
00:14:58
closer to finding the cause of
00:15:01
Legionnaire's Disease there is a
00:15:03
possibility that we may never find the
00:15:05
answer however I will pledge and I'm
00:15:08
sure Dr sensor would that this effort
00:15:11
and investigation will continue if it
00:15:13
takes a year or two years to continue
00:15:15
the investigation to get to the bottom
00:15:17
of
00:15:24
it over the Christmas holidays some of
00:15:28
the CDC staff decided to take some much
00:15:30
needed time off they had been working
00:15:33
around the clock to find the cause of
00:15:35
the Legionnaire's outbreak without
00:15:37
success there were no new cases of
00:15:40
Legionnaire's Disease but still no
00:15:43
answers Dr Joseph McDade a CDC
00:15:47
microbiologist and his wife were looking
00:15:49
forward to the Christmas holidays Joe
00:15:51
it's been six months since this first
00:15:53
broke out but what should have been a
00:15:55
diversion turned to frustration as
00:15:59
friends asked why he and his colleagues
00:16:02
were unable to find the cause of the
00:16:04
outbreak come on honey think frustrated
00:16:07
angry and embarrassed McDade cancelled
00:16:10
his Christmas vacation and returned to
00:16:13
his
00:16:14
lab he pulled the slide of a guinea pig
00:16:18
which had been injected with liver
00:16:20
tissue from a Legionnaire's victim it
00:16:22
was a slide he had seen hundreds of
00:16:26
times before but this time
00:16:29
in his deserted
00:16:31
lab he noticed something he didn't
00:16:35
recognize a new
00:16:37
bacterium one Dr McDade had never seen
00:16:45
before Dr Joseph McDade a CDC
00:16:49
microbiologist saw something he never
00:16:51
noticed before as he examined tissues of
00:16:54
guinea pigs exposed to the mysterious
00:16:57
disease
00:16:58
but at first he thought he was looking
00:17:01
at a contaminated specimen so they were
00:17:04
probably some other kind of bacteria and
00:17:07
he as I understand it uh decided to
00:17:10
retest those
00:17:12
specimens no longer assuming that these
00:17:14
were contaminants but on the off chance
00:17:18
that this was the agent he tested his
00:17:20
Newfound organism with a blood sample
00:17:23
from a Legionnaire's Disease
00:17:25
Survivor that blood sample would contain
00:17:29
antibodies which successfully fought the
00:17:32
disease if the antibodies were present
00:17:36
the sample would turn
00:17:38
green McDade looked through the
00:17:40
microscope and saw a bright green glow
00:17:45
so he demonstrated that the bug was
00:17:47
present in the uh in the liver of the
00:17:50
guinea pig and he demonstrated that that
00:17:53
legionnaires developed antibodies that
00:17:56
specific to that agent well that was the
00:17:58
Breakthrough
00:18:00
147 days after the outbreak the
00:18:03
bacterium which killed 34 and
00:18:06
hospitalized 221 others was officially
00:18:10
given its name Legionella numafa in
00:18:14
honor of the legionnaires in
00:18:16
Philadelphia and researchers identified
00:18:19
an antibiotic which would kill it
00:18:22
erythromycin but the question remained
00:18:26
where did the bacteria come from
00:18:29
and how was it spread by the time
00:18:32
researchers knew what they were looking
00:18:34
for they couldn't find it in any of the
00:18:36
samples from the hotel the bacteria had
00:18:39
long since died but researchers quickly
00:18:42
discovered its properties it multiplied
00:18:45
in warm watery conditions and could
00:18:47
travel through the air in contaminated
00:18:50
water droplets or Mist since some of the
00:18:53
victims never set foot inside the
00:18:55
Bellevue statford Hotel but were on the
00:18:58
side walk in front of the hotel Dr
00:19:01
Frasier believes that the bacteria most
00:19:04
likely came from the roof of the hotel
00:19:07
from the air conditioning water cooling
00:19:10
towers inside the cooling towers warm
00:19:13
water is cooled as it Cascades over
00:19:16
wooden louvers the excess water falls
00:19:19
into a collection pan at the bottom
00:19:22
where it stagnates if it fails to drain
00:19:25
properly investigators believe it was
00:19:28
here
00:19:29
inside these water cooling units where
00:19:32
the deadly Legionella bacteria grew and
00:19:36
multiplied it was drawn up into the air
00:19:39
by the unit's powerful fans now Airborne
00:19:43
the deadly mist of bacteria and warm
00:19:46
water flew up into the atmosphere and
00:19:49
floated down the side of the building
00:19:52
making its way to the street below it
00:19:55
landed on pedestrians walking by the
00:19:58
hotel and was also drawn into the hotel
00:20:01
lobby by intake fans on the south side
00:20:04
of the building Hotel employees probably
00:20:07
developed an immunity to the bacteria or
00:20:09
weren't susceptible because they were
00:20:11
younger and healthier than those who
00:20:13
contracted the disease the cooling tower
00:20:16
theory was never proven probably because
00:20:20
the bacteria in the Belleview
00:20:21
Stratford's cooling towers had already
00:20:24
died but investigators discovered the
00:20:27
same bacteria in similar cooling towers
00:20:30
in other parts of the country scientists
00:20:33
believe Legionella has been killing for
00:20:37
thousands of years and when blood
00:20:39
samples from earlier unexplained
00:20:42
outbreaks were examined they discovered
00:20:45
the Legionella
00:20:47
bacteria Austin Minnesota 1957 the
00:20:51
earliest documented outbreak Washington
00:20:55
DC
00:20:56
1965 where Legionella killed 16 people
00:21:00
Bob McGary and Charlie Davis were two of
00:21:04
the more fortunate Legionnaire from the
00:21:06
1976 convention Charlie Davis developed
00:21:09
Legionnaire's Disease spent three weeks
00:21:12
in the hospital but recovered Bob McGary
00:21:15
escaped the disease altogether even
00:21:18
though he and Charlie roomed together
00:21:21
Bob was younger didn't smoke or have any
00:21:24
previous respiratory ailments but the
00:21:27
outbreak had a lasting effect on these
00:21:29
two lifelong friends they lost many of
00:21:33
their brothers that summer and neither
00:21:36
one ever attended another legionnaires
00:21:40
convention I was at the wrong place at
00:21:43
the right
00:21:44
time as far as that was concerned had it
00:21:46
not been for the unfortunate incident
00:21:49
that occurred with the rest of the
00:21:50
delegates and
00:21:52
brothers I could say today it was a
00:21:54
great time but I was not going to press
00:21:57
my luck I seen it once I don't want to
00:22:00
do it again
00:22:07
[Music]
