Killer illness not flu

Press, 7 August 1976, Page 6

Killer illness not flu

NZPA Philadelphia Medical detectives have scored their first breakthrough in the search for the cause of the disease that has killed 23 people who attended a military veterans convention in Philadelphia. Researchers yesterday almost completely ruled out influenza, including swine flu, and suggested instead the disease may have been caused by a virus or a toxin, a chemical agent that could be in such everyday items as plastics, paper, or soap. In addition to the 23 deaths connected to the Pennsylvania state American Legion convention last month there were two new deaths yesterday which state health officials have not officially linked to the socalled “legionnaires disease.”

Those two victims had attended the same convention and had symptoms of the disease, hospital spokesmen said.

Health officials said they would not be able to say whether the two deaths were linked to the disease for a day or two at the earliest. By the official count, 23 people have died and 138 are in hospital.

All victims were connected in some way with the four-day convention. State health officials said they have no evidence yet of secondary infection, which would mean the disease is not contagious.

A new crop of cultures being grown in a state laboratory at Philadelphia will be harvested today and should further pin down the exact cause of the disease.