Legionnaires' disease is typically spread when a person breathes in contaminated water droplets or mist, but a case out of Portugal suggests the illness may spread another way as well: from person to person.
According to a HealthDay News report citing a New England Journal of Medicine study, Legionnaires' disease spread from a man to his elderly mother in the fall of 2014 in Portugal.
Both patients' illnesses were caused by the same strain of bacteria, even though the mother had never been to the site where the son was believed to have contracted the infection.
This is believed to be the first reported person-to-person transmission of Legionnaires' disease, but it isn't cause for panic, according to experts. Instead, further studies of the risks of person-to-person Legionnaires' disease transmission should be conducted, and cities and organizations should stay vigilant in cleaning and testing water towers that could become contaminated with the bacteria, according to HealthDay.