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Legionella Consultant Studies Hong Kong
John Herbert
Legionella Risk Assessemnt Legionnaires Disease Expert
Building systems harbour a particularly dangerous,
potentially fatal bacteria named Legionella
Pneumophila, more commonly known as Legionella.
Legionella is an aqueous bacteria that lives in nature and piped in to our buidlings, given the
opportunity it can infest and breed the hot and cold water systems, including cooling towers, domenstic water systems, air
conditioners, irrigation systems, humidifiers, and other water systems.
Given the right environmental conditions found in buildings Legionella
will rapidly multiply and reach a point where it could infect you, your staff or the
general public.
Background
Legionnaires' Disease (退 伍軍人病) is a form of pneumonia that may have serious consequences for some people, especially people in the older age groups and those otherwise susceptible to disease. The bacterium responsible for legionnaires disease was initially identified in 1977, by the CDC in Atlanta, following a large outbreak at a Bellevue Stanford hotel, Philadelphia, USA in July 1976. The disease was named from the group of people primarily affected in this outbreak. They were retired American service personnel who were attending a legion convention at the stricken hotel. Since the first outbreak, sporadic cases and major outbreaks have been regularly reported across the globe, many of them linked to hotels, healthcare, and holiday accommodation. In Dec 2011 Hong Kong's Government HQ in Tamar was infecting the education chief Mr Michael Suen.
Legionnaires' Disease was only made a notifiable disease in 1994.
Death occurs in about 5-15% of
people who get the
disease, depending on their age and individual health status. Smokers
are more at risk than non-smokers. If any hospital patient contracts
Legionnaires disease the mortality risk increases dramatically to 50%.
People are infected when they breathe air that contains tiny
droplets of water, known as aerosol, containing the
Legionella bacteria. If the bacteria is inhaled deep into the lung
infection could follow.
Spread from person to person
has not been documented. The infectious
dose is not known, although outbreaks traced
back to a source many kilometres away indicate that the infectious dose
maybe only be one bacteria.
Legionella is common, found naturally in rivers, groundwater, lakes and reservoirs usually at low numbers but when the Legionella bacteria enters building water systems, that provides an ideal breeding ground for the bacteria.
If people are exposed to a contaminated aerosol
from hot and cold water systems, air conditioning cooling
towers, etc. infection can result.
In Hong Kong the obvious challenges are cooling towers, water
features e.g. fountains, and that in the summer the "cold" water
is rarely really cold.
Legionella can't be eliminated only managed, and one lapse could
infection hundreds of people inside your building, and or,
the general public outside.
Order your Legionella control and risk assessment call
Kelcroft's Hong Kong office telephone: +(852) 2335 9830