For today’s post, we are once again going to take a bit of a step back from the news and examine some of the fundamentals of Legionella bacteria and Legionnaires’ disease. With that in mind, today’s post will be doing a review of the basics regarding how testing for Legionella is done. Traditionally, Legionella is found by a culture on a buffered charcoal yeast extract agar. One very common procedure for detecting Legionella in water is to concentrate the bacteria before inoculating it onto a charcoal yeast extract agar along with some agents like polymixin, GVPC, vancomycin, glycine, and cyclohexamide in order to suppress any…
In today’s post, we will be taking a step back once again to review some basics surrounding Legionnaires’ disease. As such, a fundamental bit of information which may prove useful for future conversations is simply what the treatment for Legionnaires’ disease looks like in a broad way. The answer, in short, is antibiotics since in one way, a big part of treating Legionnaires’ disease is, put simply, treating a bacterial infection. A more specific answer, however, would include us listing some of the more effective antibiotics. As such, some examples include tetracyclines, quinolones, most macrolides, and ketolides. The reason these particular antibiotics are effective…
The subject of using big data to try and model for future outcomes has been a popular one in relations to numerous types of fields. Yet in regards to this post, one application for modeling which seems particularly interesting is in regards to epidemiology and specifically Legionnaires’ disease. Now the primary paper I could find dates back to March of 2011 however it does draw some interesting conclusions. Essentially they attempt to model a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak using symptom-onset data from several specific outbreaks in order to estimate the beginning and end of the release of Legionella. The researchers are…
Over the past few weeks, we have included several articles regarding the Quincy, Illinois Veteran’s Home Legionnaire’s disease outbreak and the state’s attempts to not only find out exactly what happened, but to also take steps to try and ensure this kind of severe outbreak can never happen again. As of yesterday, this process of figuring out next steps took a new decisive turn by having Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration announce its plans to replace the residence halls at Quincy, Illinois veterans’ facility. The plan, which was revealed by the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director Erica Jeffries, was initially…
Back in February, it was reported by KFOR that around six employees who worked inside the Robinson Renaissance Building had tested positive for Legionella bacteria. In addition, it was also revealed through lab results that the Legionella bacteria was located within one of the building’s cooling systems. Now new testing has been conducted on the downtown Oklahoma City building, testing which shows the building has been cleared of Legionella bacteria. This was revealed when KFOR was given additional information about the extensive testing which had taken place at the building since back in February when KFOR first received the information.…
Earlier last month, researchers with the National Institutes of Health reported that many hospital plumbing systems are a ‘vast’ reservoir of drug-resistant superbug germs and other bacteria like Legionella. This report came after NIH officials had done checks of the plumbing at the their flagship hospital near Washington, D.C., checks which showed drains could be packed with bacteria and ultimately concluded that this issue is likely present at other hospitals. Now the report also mentioned that the superbugs are not very common anywhere else in the hospitals and as such, they are simply unlikely to be an overall threat to…
Numerous topics surrounding Legionella bacteria and Legionnaires’ disease have come up on this site. As an effort to take a step back and examine some of the basics, this post seeks to examine various forms of control and prevention for Legionella bacteria. One effective chemical treatment is chlorine. This is particularly effective for systems with basic marginal issues however for systems with more significant problems, a ‘shock’ chlorination, i.e. when chlorine levels are raised to more than 2 ppm over 24 hours and then brought back down to 0.5 ppm can sometimes prove effective. Hyperchlorination is a somewhat similar process however it…
Last week, CBS Chicago reported that Legionella bacteria had been found at the Comptroller’s Springfield office. The results were confirmed last Tuesday by officials from Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s office and also noted that the contaminated water was not in locations of the office which were accessible to employees. This revelations comes to light at a clearly rough time for many of Illinois’ state facilities, which most recently included the news that health officials had confirmed a fourth case of Legionnaires’ disease at the Quincy, Illinois Veterans Home. It is important to keep this story in perspective. After all, Legionella bacteria was found however…
This past Monday, February 19, a Philadelphia-based global molecular solutions company called Invisible Sentinel Inc. announced its first-in-class Legionella species assay had been verified and adopted by a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) ELITE Certified Laboratory called Q Laboratories, Inc. The CDC ELITE, or Environmental Legionella Isolation Techniques Evaluation, is a CDC designation for labs that have shown proficiency with isolating, growing, and identifying Legionella from samples collected in the environment. Traditional screening methods, however, can often take up to two weeks so a development like the one touted by Invisible Sentinel would certainly mark a significant improvement. The new…
Over the course of this blog, many subjects have been covered however perhaps as a reminder and as a step back, it is prudent to review exactly how individuals contract Legionnaires’ disease. As mentioned before, Legionnaires’ disease is often contracted by breathing in aerosolized water (and in some cases, soil) that has Legionella bacteria. As such, Legionnaires’ disease cannot be given from one individual to another. The Legionella bacteria grows the best in warm temperatures so can often thrive in locations like cooling towers, evaporative condensers, and hot water tanks. The Legionella pneumophila causes around 90% of all Legionnaires’ disease cases and can survive…