The article highlights the resilience of Legionella bacteria in water systems, which has resulted in severe health crises, notably causing deaths in the Flint water crisis and recent outbreaks in Ithaca. A new study in the Journal of Bacteriology reveals how Legionella and C. burnetii adapt in their environments, leading to forms that resist treatment. As these bacteria alter their outer cell envelopes, they become harder to treat, complicating medical responses to infections. Both diseases can be particularly deadly for immunocompromised individuals, raising concerns for public health.
We already knew that when these bacteria come out into the environment, they differentiate into intrinsically resistant forms in order to survive.
When the cells enter water (Legionella) or soil (C. burnetii), the cell envelope becomes hardier, making the bacteria more resistant to antibiotics and, in the case of Legionella, chlorination.
This same toughening process occurs in bacterial cells in the human body: When the infections move from acute to chronic, the envelopes change and the diseases become very difficult, or impossible, to treat.
Legionnaires' disease and Q fever are dangerous and potentially fatal for immunocompromised people; one in 10 people who contract Legionnaires' disease dies.
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