What is Legionella?
Legionnaires Disease - The condition known as Legionnaires disease was named after an outbreak of a severe pneumonia-like disease that occurred at the Belle Vue Stratford Hotel, Philadelphia, USA in 1976, where there was a convention of the American Legion. Legionella pneumophila, the causative organism for most cases of Legionnaires' disease, was thought to have been present in the hotel’s cooling towers. Somehow, water droplets in the form of an aerosol contaminated the hotel's air conditioning systems allowing the bacteria to come into contact with the convention guests, a highly susceptible population.
Where does it come from?
The bacterium that causes Legionnaires' disease is widespread in nature. It mainly lives in water, for example ponds, where it does not usually cause problems. Outbreaks occur from purpose-built water systems where temperatures are warm enough to encourage growth of the bacteria, e.g. in cooling towers, evaporative condensers and whirlpool spas and from water used for domestic purposes in buildings such as hospitals, carehomes, hotels etc..
Most community outbreaks in the UK have been linked to installations such as cooling towers or evaporative condensers, which can spread droplets of water over a wide area. These are found as part of air-conditioning and industrial cooling systems
 |
 |
 |
 |
