SAN DIEGO — San Diego State University announced Monday afternoon that "a campus community member" was diagnosed with Legionella pneumonia.
San Diego State's Exercise and Nutritional Sciences building was temporarily closed while Environmental Health and Safety teams worked closely with San Diego Health & Human Services Agency to identify and confirm the potential source and reports that a community member was diagnosed with Legionella pneumonia.
"Legionnaires' disease is a serious type of pneumonia (lung infection) caused by Legionella bacteria. People can get sick when they breathe in small droplets of water or accidentally swallow water containing Legionella into the lungs," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
San Diego State officials did not clarify whether the diagnosed person was a student, staff, or faculty member at the university.
"The campus community member is away from campus and recovering. At this time, it is unknown where the campus community member was exposed to Legionella bacteria but in an abundance of caution, the university is closing the ENS building to perform testing," SDSU officials said in a letter sent to students and staff.
"At this time, there is only a single case of Legionella pneumonia, and any connection to the campus is still unknown, but the university is taking extra precautions given the severity of the disease," the Environmental Health and Safety Department at SDSU shared.
San Diego State urged everyone on campus to monitor their health closely and not attend classes if symptoms of sickness were being experienced.
According to health officials, Legionnaire's Disease is a severe form of pneumonia, although it is not contagious. People get sick inhaling microscopic water droplets containing the Legionella bacteria.
"The symptoms are fever and people will have a dry cough," said Dr. Viji Sankar, Chief of Pulmonary Medicine at Kaiser Permanente.
"Usually it's symptoms within 24 to 48 hours, cough, fever, shortness of breath. A classic presentation of pneumonia, without a lot of phlegm associated with it," she added.
Exposure to contaminated water or soil usually causes Legionnaire's Disease, according to Dr. Sankar, who said it is possible that the Exercise and Nutritional Sciences building at SDSU has been shut down while they test the air conditioning system.
Last year in Napa County, at least a dozen people got sick from Legionnaire's Disease and one person died. In that outbreak, county public health officials detected an unsafe amount of Legionella bacteria in a hotel's cooling tower.... after a number of people who live nearby became ill.
In 2017, an outbreak of Legionnaire's disease near Disneyland led to 22 people getting sick and one person dying. Most of those who fell ill had visited the park, and a health official later testified that mist from a cooling tower was the most likely source. Disneyland has denied this, saying that the outbreak's source was not scientifically determined.
WATCH RELATED: San Diego State University building shut down after person diagnosed with Legionella pneumonia