public health Archives

September 6, 2021 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Several Recent Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreaks Spark Concern Among Public Health Officials

As recently reported on our blog, there is an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Harlem, NY. Additionally, dozens are sick after they were exposed this month at Duke University’s fantasy basketball camp. All over the country, cases of Legionnaires’ disease appear to be on the rise. Michigan noted an alarming statistic in July of an increase of 569% from July 2020. This is a huge spike in reported Legionnaires’ disease cases, with over 100 cases being reported in Michigan in the first half of July alone. [1] Many individuals are returning to buildings like schools and offices that have been…

August 24, 2021 zacherlaw 0 Comments

The CDC Released Recommended Best Practices for the Disinfection of Hot Tubs that Contain Legionella

The CDC recently published recommendations for the best practices of disinfecting a hot tub that contains Legionella. It is vitally important that hot tubs are properly disinfected when Legionella is found. Hot tubs are a well-documented source of Legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease. As the water heats up, some of the water particles are aerosolized. These are then inhaled by those in and around the hot tub. If these particles contain Legionella, there is a chance that the individual who inhaled it could get very sick. The first step in the disinfection process is to close the hot tub immediately.…

August 23, 2021 zacherlaw 0 Comments

CDC States 100% Of Deaths Associated with Waterborne Illness in Recreational Water Are Caused by Legionnaires’ Disease

Outbreaks of waterborne illness, like Legionnaires’ disease, have been on the rise over the last several years. An outbreak associated with recreational water is defined as the occurrence of similar illness in two or more persons whose illness are epidemiologically linked by location and time of exposure to persons using recreational water. The CDC recently published in their Morbidity and Morality Weekly Report (MMWR) a report on Outbreaks Associated with Treated Recreational Water in the United States from 2015 through 2019. The report covers important statistics about waterborne illness outbreaks occurrences and recommend implementing new Legionella control guidelines. From 2015-2019,…

October 25, 2018 zacherlaw 0 Comments

New York City Admits Still Does Not Know Where All Cooling Towers Are

New York City Council enacted a law in 2015 after a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in the Bronx. The law requires that every cooling tower in New York City be identified, registered and inspected on a regular basis. The city has admitted recently that it is not sure it has found all cooling towers, three years after the legislation was passed (the city health department uses experts on the street and satellite imagery to find cooling towers). This failure to even identify all cooling towers takes on added significance after one remembers that there have been two recent outbreaks…

October 5, 2018 zacherlaw 0 Comments

White Paper on Need For Legislation

This law firm will issue a white paper on the need for stringent legislation at the national level to curtail the increasing incidence of Legionnaires’ disease throughout the United States. Rather than rolling out the paper at one time, various chapters will be issued that when taken as a whole make up the white paper. While many of you might not be familiar with the term white paper, it refers to reports that were issued by the British government regarding matters of concern to the general public. What could be more pressing in this country than Congress passing legislation that…

September 7, 2018 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Hampton Outbreak Follow On

Three important pieces of evidence have been revealed through the media so far about the outbreak at the Sands Resort. The owner did not have a permit for the spa, there was legionella bacteria in numerous places through out the hotel and not just the spa, and numerous people who have been associated with the hotel who have contracted the disease. These facts are important for the following reasons. Permits are issued to make sure the spa holder complies with all regulatory requirements, e.g. the amount of chlorine in the spa. Finding legionella in two different water systems within the…

April 9, 2018 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Guidelines and Resources for Legionella

In a previous post, we discussed an introduction to water system maintenance. More detailed resources, however, can clearly be of great assistance in situations like this. As such, the CDC actually provides a great page to review other significant guidelines and standards that may be applicable. Resources on the page include everything from ASHRAE to the Cooling Tower Institute however what’s also of interest is that the page provides links to more healthcare-specific guidelines including those from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as well as, of course, the CDC’s own guidelines on both matters. Here are some of…

April 8, 2018 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Legionella Testing Market Valued At $180 Million in 2016

About a month ago, Transparency Market Research estimated that the global legionella testing market was valued at US$180 million in 2016. In addition, Transparency Market Research also estimated that the testing market would reach around US$398.7 million by 2025. Perhaps one of the biggest factors for future growth moving forward is that the incidence rate is increasing globally, particularly in developing regions. With this higher incidence of infectious diseases comes a steady increase in the demand for diagnostic kits and with it the global legionella testing market is expected to substantially grow. As it stands now, the incidence rate of…

April 5, 2018 zacherlaw 0 Comments

New Model Developed to Understand How Legionella Grow in Plumbing Systems

Assessing plumbing systems can sometime feel like a task which you are going to be inherently blind in. After all, regular testing is important however pinpointing the exact location of clusters can often be difficult. Luckily, there appears to be a new model which may help public health authorities assess water quality. According to one of the co-authors and civil and environmental engineering professor Wen-Tso Liu, “(P)revious studies have relied on reproducing the conditions of a stagnant plumbing system within a lab setting,” however for this study, the team was “able to collect samples in a real-life situation.” The team collected…

April 2, 2018 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Legionella Bacteria Found Within Cooling Towers at 3 Schools

Over the course of the past few weeks, we have covered cooling towers and how they can serve as potential breeding grounds for Legionella bacteria. This appears to be the case in Long Island as a school district there announced that Legionella bacteria was found in the cooling towers at three of their schools. According to the Sachem Central School District at Holbrook’s superintendent, James Nolan, the bacteria was detected in the cooling towers at Seneca, Sequoya and East schools after conducting scheduled testing in order to be in compliance with New York state regulations. Once discovered, the cooling towers…