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Government or official record

Legionnaires' Disease at 20

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Where this source supports the record

Each entry separates the article’s editorial relevance note from its exact, section-level claims. A bibliography link without a direct claim is labeled plainly.

  1. Epidemics & public health · 21 July–August 1976

    The 1976 Legionnaires' Disease Outbreak

    Bellevue-Stratford Hotel convention site · United States

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    Why editors use it here

    CDC retrospective with cases, deaths, field investigation, laboratory discovery, and legacy.

    1. Quick read

      After an American Legion convention at Philadelphia's Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in July 1976, attendees developed severe pneumonia.

      Reviewed 26 July 2026
    2. Trigger and conditions

      Within days of the convention, attendees experienced fever, cough, chest pain, and rapidly worsening pneumonia.

      Reviewed 26 July 2026
    3. Uncertainty

      The standard count is 182 cases and twenty-nine deaths, but early reports and later retrospective definitions differ.

      Reviewed 26 July 2026
    4. Why it matters

      The investigation shows how finding a new pathogen depends on disciplined case definitions, maps, preserved specimens, and willingness to revisit discarded evidence.

      Reviewed 26 July 2026