A recent CDC study of the presence of legionella in our nation’s cooling has produced concerning results. Water from 190+ cooling towers from around the country was collected and tested for the presence of legionella bacteria. The CDC found that 84% of those water samples contained at least DNA traces of legionella bacteria. The study also found that 79 of the 196 (~40%) surveyed cooling towers contained live legionella bacteria. These findings were enough for the study’s head researcher, Dr. Anna Llewellyn, to refer to legionella as being “ubiquitous in U.S. cooling towers”. Cooling towers have been strongly associated with outbreaks of Legionnaires’…
If a company or organization in the UK fails to prevent the spread of legionella on their premises and someone dies of Legionnaires’ Disease as a result, the company could face a charge of corporate manslaughter. As of now, a town council and a discount home improvement warehouse have faced corporate manslaughter charges as a result of Legionnaires’ Disease outbreaks. Following an outbreak of the flu that affected around 120 people who had attended a party at the Playboy Mansion, tests on the mansion’s pool and hot tub showed positive results for legionella bacteria. Though the first officially recorded Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak…
Legionella infections are most commonly associated with cooling towers, hot tubs, pools, showers, and decorative fountains. However, exposure to legionella bacteria can occur through other, more obscure means. Legionellosis (Legionnaires’ Disease) manifests when aerosolized droplets containing legionella bacteria make their way into a patient’s lungs. Legionella bacteria typically is inhaled in through water droplets, but contaminated soil has been found to cause Legionnaires’ Disease on numerous occasions. In Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Japan, more attention has been paid to the potential risks of acquiring Legionnaires’ Disease or Pontiac Fever from contaminated potting soil. In New Zealand, there was 121 reported…