Legionnaires' disease: revisiting the puzzle of the century

Thus, 40 years ago this month began what Robert Sharrar, chief of communicable disease control for the city of Philadelphia, called the "epidemiological puzzle of the century". In retrospect, this phrase seems hyperbolic, particularly in light of the pandemic of HIV/AIDS that occurred 6 years later. But perhaps the main reason why the 1976 Legionnaires' disease outbreak has been overlooked by some medical historians is that it was overshadowed by the fiasco over what became known as the "swine flu affair".