Legions of Legionella Bacteria

Zoey Brereton
Earth Science IH

    Although salt (ocean) water is deemed inconvenient sometimes because it is undrinkable, it is viewed in a positive light when it comes to the salt killing microbes which makes the ocean exceptionally clean. During the late 1990’s, oysters got infested with a microbe called Cryptospordium which is found in freshwater; it began to show up in unfiltered water and it can be fatal to young/fragile people. Recently a biologist, Rebecca Gast, found another microbe also from freshwater in the Great Salt Lake called Legionella that can cause pneumonia, confusing, and fatigue if a person catches the disease that the microbe contains called Legionnaires’ disease. It is alarmingly possible that this specific microbe can spread to salt water, so Rebecca Gast and her colleague Linda Amaral-Zettler made a sampling project to see exactly what is in the ocean and how fatal it is. During their studies they found that in Mount Hope Bay there were 32 strains of Legionella, these strains are possible for the Legionnaires’ disease but studies still need to be conducted to find the harmful genes in the Legionella that was found in Mount Hope Bay. Another interesting discovery is that Mount Hope Bay has generally warm waters which means it is more likely that Legionella is commonly in warmer climates - this is harmful because people are more attracted to warm waters to swim in. After more and more research, the two biologists found that Legionella has the characteristic of being able to invade amoebae (which fights infections). Gast and Amaral-Zettler are continuing to test samples to get to the bottom of this frightening case of the spreading bacteria seeing that it’s side effects and possibly fatal ramifications on humans is extremely worrying.
    Clearly, there are many relations to the spread of Legionella and the effects on society. Even though there have only been reported cases of an upset stomach because of Legionella’s health impacts on the human body, many strains of the bacteria can be extremely fatal. Not only can Legionella survive in unfiltered water, it is found in this article that it is easily possible for it to spread into wider oceans. It is distressing that it is able to survive in salt water because this means it could be able to travel throughout and not only effect humans but also life in the sea. The cells that have survived in Legionella can impede an immune system rapidly, and since Legionella is more commonly found in warm water (which is the generally popular swimming preference in most societies) it is quite possible that this could cause a huge issue if there is no way to figure out how to put an end to the spread of this microbe.
    This article was eye-opening and a little alarming. Though it was well-written and mostly was upfront and to the point, there were some flaws and improvements that could be made. There were quite a few terms that were not familiar to me (microbe, polysyllabic, etc.) and were not explained/defined. Another aspect of critique is that despite the fact that there was not an irritating length of unnecessary descriptions in the article, it ended on quite a worrying sentence/statement which leaves concern and unanswered questions to the reader.


Citation:
Powell, Hugh. "Legions of Legionella Bacteria." : Oceanus Magazine. N.p., 7 Sept. 2006. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.