The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in July 1976, when it hosted a statewide convention of the American Legion. Soon after, a pneumonia-like disease killed 29 people and sickened 182 more who had been in the hotel. The vast majority were members of the convention. The negative publicity associated with what became known as "Legionnaires' Disease" caused occupancy at the Bellevue-Stratford to plummet to 4 percent and the hotel finally closed on November 18, 1976. In 1977, Dr. Joseph McDade discovered a new bacterium, which was identified as the causative organism. It thrives in hot, damp places like the water of the cooling towers for the
Pneumocystis pneumonia The older species name "Pneumocystis carinii" (which now applies only to the "Pneumocystis" species that is found in rats) is still in common usage. As a result, "Pneumocystis" pneumonia (PCP) is also known as Pneumocystis jiroveci[i]" pneumonia and (incorrectly) as Pneumocystis carinii" pneumonia. Regarding nomenclature, when the name of "Pneumocystis" pneumonia (PCP) changed from "P. carinii" pneumonia to "P. jirovecii" pneumonia, it was at first asked whether "PJP" should replace "PCP". However, because the short name "PCP" was already well established among physicians that managed patients with "Pneumocystis" infection, it was widely accepted that that name could continue to be