Legionnaires' disease: description of an epidemic of pneumonia.

An explosive, common-source outbreak of pneumonia caused by a previously unrecognized bacterium affected primarily persons attending an American Legion convention in Philadelphia in July, 1976. Twenty-nine of 182 cases were fatal. Spread of the bacterium appeared to be air borne. The source of the bacterium was not found, but epidemiologic analysis suggested that exposure may have occurred in the lobby of the headquarters hotel or in the area immediately surrounding the hotel. Person-to-person spread seemed not to have occurred. Many hotel employees appeared to be immune, suggesting that the agent may have been present in the vicinity, perhaps intermittently, for two or more years.