Legionnaires' disease

Abstract

The blaze of publicity surrounding the recent outbreaks of legionnaires' disease has tended to confuse the central issue — just what is the risk of catching the disease from any of the services within a building? The answer must be that, on current evidence, there is a very slim risk indeed. Although bacteria responsible for the disease are known to colonise in water‐using apparatus operating at a temperature between 20°C and 45°C — an environment provided in cooling towers, humidifiers, cooling coils, hot and cold water systems and drains — and although all buildings will contain at least one of these services, the number of recorded outbreaks only amounts to a handful worldwide. It does seem unlikely that a well‐maintained building, housing normally healthy people, will constitute a risk — which may well explain why most outbreaks are connected with hospitals.

Citation

Berry, J. (1985), "Legionnaires' disease", Facilities, Vol. 3 No. 7, pp. 13-14. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb006338