Through the Legionella Looking Glass – Part 2: A Look at Current Practices and State of the Science

In the April issue of the Healthy Indoors, Dr. J. David Krause, a senior toxicologist and Associate of a Florida-based health sciences firm, discusses complex public health issues involving Legionnaires’ disease.  Topics in his thorough and well-thought article include:

• Difficulties with tracking Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks
• Limits of public health agencies such as local and state health departments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• Efficacy and accuracy of testing methods for the different strains of Legionella bacteria which cause Legionnaires’ disease
• Legionnaires’ disease as an under diagnosed and under reported illness
• Relying on surveillance is difficult when the disease is under reported and under diagnosed.  Also, current practices do not always include water system testing or treatment for some facilities.
• Difficulties for public health organizations to take a global approach to control, investigation, and prevention of Legionnaires’ disease.

Currently, there are many inconsistencies regarding Legionella.  For example, “municipal water systems have specific bacterial testing requirements, but Legionella is not among them.  The non-regulatory ‘maximum contaminant level goal’ (MCLG) established by the US EPA for Legionella is zero, but testing for Legionella by municipal water suppliers and achieving this goal is not required.”

This is especially troubling considering a study that was recently published in Environmental Science & Technology, which reported that Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 (LP1) was found in “nearly half of cold water tap samples taken from 68 different water supplies across the United States.”

To read Dr. Krause’s full article, please click here.

Man travelling from Singapore to Australia contracts Legionnaires’ disease

An employee of the Jan De Nul Group at the Fortescue Metals Group camp in South Hedland in West Australia has been in the hospital for a week battling a severe form of Legionnaires’ disease.

He became symptomatic while staying at the camp earlier this March and was diagnosed after being flown out for treatment.

The man had travelled from Singapore on a Jan De Nul vessel to spend several weeks in February working in Port Hedland.

A spokesman at Fortescue Metals Group claimed that the camp had no sources in which the man could have contracted Legionnaires’ disease, a potentially deadly form of pneumonia.  However, he also said that “as a precautionary measure we are undertaking testing around the site.”

http://www.legionnairelawyer.com/man-travelling-from-singapore-to-australia-contracts-legionnaires-disease/ 

Dartmouth Police Headquarters shuts down after Legionella discovered

Update 3/25/14: South Coast Today reported that the Dartmouth Police Headquarters station that shut down earlier this month due to Legionella will remain closed for at least another two months.  This means that the station may not be open until May at the earliest.  Police Chief Timothy M. Lee is erring on the side of caution and waiting for all test results to come back clean before re-opening the Dartmouth Police Headquarters; his main concern is to keep all 82 employees, which includes 67 police officers, safe.  

During this disinfection process, the police are working out of rented trailers and a mobile command center in the station's parking lot.  So far, the building's plumbing system has been flushed with 160˚F water to kill any Legionella bacteria.  Test results are expected to return this week, but the additional wait time is to ensure that the bacteria do not return.

A Dartmouth police officer became ill and was diagnosed Legionnaires’ disease earlier this March.

As a result, testing was done on the Dartmouth Police Headquarters, and the police station was subsequently shut down temporarily due to the finding of Legionella (bacteria causing Legionnaires’ disease) in the facility’s water system.

Currently, there is no date set for the reopening of the police headquarters, but steps are being taken to eradicate the bacteria.

West Texas VA still addressing Legionella problem in water supply

CBS recently spoke with VA officials to follow-up on the Legionella bacteria situation.

West Texas VA found Legionella in their water system in September 2013 and underwent remediation to disinfect the system.  Subsequent tests over the last few months still showed a presence of the bacteria.  The hospital has since treated the water system by super heating the water and chlorinating four different times.

According to officials at the West Texas VA, the Department of Veterans Affairs requires that hospitals test their water once a year, but that they intend to test more often than the VA requirement.

To read more about treatment the various treatment methods that are available, please visit The Journal of Legionella and the Law.

Legionnaire’s limits water use at IU Health hospitals

Shari Rudavsky at the Indianapolis Star, a news source in Indianapolis, Indiana, reached out us recently to discuss Legionnaires' disease.  Please see below for the article.

Legionnaires' limits water use at IU Health hospitals

Patients at IU Health’s University Hospital and Simon Cancer Center have been told to drink bottled water and not bathe or shower with tap water after two patients at the Downtown hospital tested positive for Legionnaire’s disease.

The restrictions came after additional samples of water tested positive for Legionella bacteria, the germ that causes the potentially deadly illness.

IU Health officials went room to room late Thursday explaining the decision to limit water consumption for patients, many of whom have compromised immune systems and are susceptible to the disease.

“We felt that it was a precautionary move that we should make,” said Dr. Douglas Webb, medical director for infection control of Indiana University Health.

IU Health continues to investigate how water at University Hospital became infected. Legionella bacteria resides in water and is often contracted through aerosol spray, such as a shower, air conditioner or fountain.

The restrictions will stay in place until tests “verify that the water has been adequately treated and is safe to use,” Webb said.

Earlier this week, IU Health officials announced that two patients, both with compromised immune systems, had tested positive within the past month for Legionnaire’s disease and had died. Webb declined to give specific dates for the deaths.

To continue reading, please click here.

Two patients with Legionnaires’ disease die at IU Health University Hospital

The IU (Indiana University) Health University Hospital announced yesterday, February 4 that two of its patients diagnosed with Legionnaires ’ disease had died.

According to the medical director of infection control for Indiana University Health, Dr. Douglas Webb, one patient’s death was linked to Legionnaires’ disease, a pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria; the other patient who died also had Legionella pneumonia, but it is unclear whether or not this illness was a major contributing factor to the death.

Indiana University Health tested its water system after the second diagnosis of Legionnaires’ disease and found Legionella bacteria.  The hospital tests its water regularly, but Webb said this is the first instance he’s known the hospital to test positive for Legionella.  IU Health workers treated the hospital’s water over the weekend and subsequent tests results showed that the attempts were successful in eradicating the bacteria from the system.