Face Masks Don’t Cause Legionnaires’ Disease

Face Masks Don’t Cause Legionnaires’ Disease

September 9, 2020

A viral social media post is spreading the falsehood that wearing a face mask to slow the spread of COVID-19 could cause Legionnaires’ disease. But Legionnaires’ disease is caused by bacteria that festers mostly in warm, standing water, not in human saliva.

People cannot get Legionnaires’ disease from wearing a face mask, Dr. Janet Stout told FactCheck.org in a phone interview. Stout is the president and director of the Special Pathogens Laboratory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and has studied that disease for decades.

Referring to the bacteria, Stout explained, “Legionella is not spread from one person to another.” Rather, it is spread mostly by breathing in mist from infected water sources, which are usually warm and stagnant and commonly include hot tubs or air-conditioning cooling towers, according to the CDC. The disease can also be caused by drinking infected water if some of the water enters the lungs.

The bacteria would not be present in saliva, Stout said, so there would be no way for moisture from a person’s own spit to cause Legionnaires’ disease.

The two diseases — Legionnaires’ and  COVID-19 — do share some symptoms, though. Stout highlighted that they both cause high fevers, a cough, and sometimes diarrhea. They also endanger the same high-risk patients — the elderly and those with underlying diseases. So, she said, it’s conceivable that doctors who have a heightened awareness of COVID-19 right now might initially mistake Legionnaires’ disease for COVID-19. But the two diseases have different tests.

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