You Are an RN Working in the Emergency Department (ED)

You are an RN working in the emergency department (ED) at a major hospital in New York City. During one shift, you see two patients who are exhibiting coughing with blood-containing sputum, and shortness of breath. Both patients report that they have experienced headaches, muscle aches, high fever, confusion, and shaking chills in the days preceding their ED visit. One of the patients also has some digestive tract symptoms including diarrhea, abdominal pain, and vomiting. You discover that the patients live in the same apartment building, although they do not know each other. You suspect that they have a type of pneumonia, and given the circumstances, think it may be legionellosis. You read up on this disease to refresh your memory about it.
-Select the False statement regarding legionellosis and its causative agent.

A) The causative organism survives well in the water systems of buildings, particularly in hot water systems, where chlorine levels are generally low.
B) People become infected with L. pneumophila when they inhale aerosol droplets contaminated with the organism. It is not acquired from other infected individuals.
C) L. pneumophila produces a β-lactamase, which makes it resistant to many penicillins and some cephalosporins, so is typically treated with a macrolide or a fluoroquinolone.
D) Legionella pneumophila is an obligate intracellular parasite that survives in ameba in the environment and in kupffer cells in infected people.
E) L. pneumophila prevents phagosome-lysosome fusion in phagocytes, thus avoiding destruction; the bacteria manipulate conditions to multiply within these cells.