Controlling Legionnaire's Disease

Abstract

Legionnaires' disease is a rare but life threatening form of pneumonia caused by inhalation of fine water droplets contaminated with Legionella bacteria. In the urban environment the disease is usually associated with poor building design, inappropriate construction and/or negligent maintenance of the water services within buildings. It is therefore effectively a man-made disease, which is normally preventable. Fortunately, most people exposed to the bacterium do not develop the disease: it is a disease of susceptibility. Predisposing factors are age above 50 years, males (a 3-fold excess over females), smoking and the existence of an underlying illness.

Britain was among the first countries to introduce legislation and technical guidance to minimise the risk of Legionellosis. This paper describes current good practice in assessing the risk. A recent review of compliance shows that employers should give more attention to the maintenance of their buildings. The starting point is to nominate a person at managerial level to accept responsibility for water hygiene within the company.