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
Timeline of the SARS outbreak On the flight, he fell ill and upon arrival in Bangkok told an awaiting friend not to touch him and to call an ambulance to take him to a hospital. He was isolated in an intensive care unit. A similar outbreak of a mysterious respiratory disease was reported among healthcare workers in Hong Kong. On March 12, WHO issued a global alert about a new infectious disease of unknown origin in both Vietnam and Hong Kong. On March 15, WHO issued a heightened global health alert about mysterious pneumonia with a case definition of SARS as after cases in Singapore