Diseases are defined as a condition of a living animal or plant body or of one of its parts that impairs the performance of a vital function.

In other words - they really suck!

Some are merely a nuisance, others can be debilitating, while the big boys can be positively fatal. A disease caused by a bacterial agent can usually be treated with anitbiotics, however, there is nothing that can kill a viral disease (the only way to fight a viral infection is to develop antibodies through vacines.) The following is a list of some of our favorite diseases…

This tough customer takes its name from an outbreak at the Pennsylvania American Legion convention held in a hotel in Philadelphia, Pa. In 1976. During this outbreak, 34 people died (29 Legionnaires and their family members and five others how had been near the hotel. The disease was diagnosed for the first time after 221 people contracted the illness in Philly.

The bacterium believed to cause the illness is found in soil and grows in water, such as the air conditioning units of large hotels, office complexes and hospitals.

The American Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Ga. Estimates that 25,000 people a year get the disease, whose pneumonia-like symptoms begin two to three days after exposure to the bacterium.