1976 Philadelphia Legionnaires' disease outbreak killed 16 persons out of 78 infected was later determined to be Legionnaires' disease. A September 1974 convention of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows was also held at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. Out of approximately 1,500 members who attended, 20 developed pneumonia and two died. A later article in "The Lancet" reported: "Illness [high fever and pneumonia] was significantly associated with attendance at one convention activity held on Monday morning, September 16, 1974, in the grand ballroom of the hotel." 1976 Philadelphia Legionnaires' disease outbreak The 1976 Legionnaires disease outbreak, occurring in the late summer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was the
1976 Philadelphia Legionnaires' disease outbreak the signing of the US Declaration of Independence at Philadelphia in 1776. On July 27, three days after the convention ended, Legionnaire Ray Brennan, a 61-year-old retired US Air Force captain and an American Legion bookkeeper, died at his home of an apparent heart attack. Brennan had returned home from the convention on the evening of July 24 complaining of feeling tired. On July 30, another Legionnaire, Frank Aveni, aged 60, also died of an apparent heart attack, as did three other Legionnaires. All of them had been convention attendees. Twenty-four hours later, on August 1, six more Legionnaires died.