NEWSWEEK – Hot tubs aboard a cruise ship have been linked to outbreaks of a bacterial disease, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced.
Between November 2022 and April 2024, eight cases of Legionnaires’ disease were reported on a single cruise ship, “cruise ship A.”
The outbreak on cruise ship A is the largest cruise-associated outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease since 2008. A CDC investigation found that the hot tubs on the ships were the likely source of the infection.
Four more cases of the disease were reported on a second cruise ship (cruise ship B) between January and June 2024. Hot tubs were also found to be the cause.
“Epidemiologic, environmental, and laboratory evidence suggests that private balcony hot tubs were the likely source of exposure in two outbreaks of Legionnaires disease among cruise ship passengers,” the CDC said in the report.
“These devices are subject to less stringent operating requirements than are public hot tubs, and operating protocols were insufficient to prevent Legionella growth.”
Legionnaires’ disease is a severe form of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria, usually the species often Legionella pneumophila.
Legionella bacteria thrive in warm water between 77 and 113 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes hot tubs a prime environment for their growth.
“It gets into the human body through inhaled water droplets, usually from hot tubs, air humidifiers, or air conditioning that contain the bacteria.
Of note, it cannot be passed from person to person,” Conor Meehan, an associate professor of microbial bioinformatics at Nottingham Trent University, told Newsweek.
Legionnaires’ disease gets its name from an outbreak in 1976 at an American Legion convention in Philadelphia.
Shortly after the event, many attendees began falling ill with a mysterious type of pneumonia, and scientists identified a previously unknown bacterium as the cause. The bacteria were named Legionella pneumophila …
