For Patients and Families
If you or someone close to you has been diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease, or you think you may have been exposed, this page covers what tends to matter most in the first few days.
What to watch for
Symptoms usually appear two to fourteen days after exposure. They begin like flu — headache, muscle aches, fever that can climb above 104°F — and typically become a chest infection within a day or two, with cough, breathlessness and chest pain. Some people also have nausea or diarrhoea, and some become confused.
Seek medical attention if you have a fever with a cough and shortness of breath, especially if you are over 50, smoke or used to smoke, have a chronic lung condition, or have a weakened immune system. Seek urgent care for difficulty breathing, chest pain, or new confusion or drowsiness.
The question worth asking
Legionnaires’ disease cannot be told apart from other pneumonias by examination or chest X-ray. It takes a specific test, and that test has to be ordered deliberately.
This matters because the antibiotics most often used first for pneumonia do not work against Legionella. Someone can be treated carefully and still not be treated effectively.
If you or a relative is being treated for pneumonia and is not improving, it is reasonable to ask whether a test for Legionnaires’ disease has been done. It is a fair question and a common one.
Take this with you
Our one-page summary covers the symptoms, the exposure window, and the question to ask a doctor. Written to be printed and kept.
Legionnaires’ disease: the basics — download (PDF) →
Tell your doctor where you have been
Exposure history is often what prompts the right test. In the two weeks before becoming unwell, mention any stay in a hotel or hospital, time in a care facility, use of a spa pool or hot tub, or a building where Legionnaires’ disease has been reported.
Roughly one in ten to one in seven reported cases involve travel during the exposure period, and travel-associated cases are among the hardest to detect — because by the time someone falls ill, they are usually home.
What it means for the people around you
Legionnaires’ disease does not pass from person to person. Nobody needs to be isolated, and family members are not at risk from contact with the patient.
If several people connected to the same building have fallen ill, the risk is the building’s water, not the people.
If you think a building made you ill
Contact your local health department. Legionnaires’ disease is a notifiable condition, and health departments investigate clusters — but they can only investigate what they know about.
A single report may seem unlikely to achieve much. It is often what allows a pattern to be noticed at all.
Recovery
Most people who are treated recover, though many need hospital care to do so, and recovery can take longer than people expect. Tiredness and reduced exercise tolerance often persist for weeks after the infection itself has cleared. That is common and worth discussing with a doctor rather than pushing through.
If a relative is in a care facility
The people most at risk from Legionnaires’ disease are older adults and people already unwell — which describes most residents of nursing and rehabilitation facilities. Infections acquired in healthcare settings are also the most dangerous, with roughly one in four proving fatal.
Facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid are required to have a water management programme. Asking whether the facility has one, and who is responsible for it, is entirely reasonable.
We have put those questions on a single page, with a line on why each one matters.
Questions to ask your building manager — download (PDF) →
Know when it happens near you
We send occasional alerts on outbreaks, legislation and new research. No more than that.
Medical disclaimer: This page provides general public health information and is not medical advice. It cannot substitute for diagnosis or treatment by a qualified clinician. If you believe you have been exposed to Legionella or are experiencing symptoms, contact a doctor or your local health department.