Legionaires Disease

Legionnaires disease William Harvey

A patient has died and two other people were seriously ill with Legionnaires' disease. A spokes person for the East Kent NHS Trust said an elderly patient had developed the disease while at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.

Health officials are already undertaking an inquiry after a former guest at a Pontin's holiday camp developed Legionnaires Disease and is currently fighting for her life in a hospital in Birmingham.

One case was admitted to the William Harvey Hospital from the community already ill with Legionella infection.

 

The person had not been a recent in-patient, but had visited the hospital for an outpatient appointment during the previous two weeks.

 

 

Legionnaires Disease is a killer so when it gets into our hospitals it is a very serious problem indeed.

 

So how does it get there, where does it come from and how do people catch the disease?

 

It’s much simpler than most people imagine, firstly legionaries disease is in the soil and in a our water courses and even in our water supplies that come into our houses, offices, schools and of course hospitals, but it is normally in very little amounts and does little if no harm at all.

 

The problems start when water is stored at ideal temperatures for the bacteria to proliferate, and these temperatures are between 40 degrees Celsius and 60 degrees Celsius (and ideal breading ground. Below this temperature there is no evidence that the bacteria is in enough concentration to cause any harm, above the temperature range it is simply killed off.

 

Even in the range (40 – 60c) it is not normally a problem, and it cannot be caught by drinking it, in either case if you have a cold drink anyway it is likely to be below 40c and if you have a hot drink it would have been killed off.

 

So where is the problem?  Luke warm water (ideal breeding temperatures), bad plumbing design, and in the case of hospitals and commercial premises, bad management. The problems are known and it is simple to control.

 

In the case of water borne disease, it may be hard to imagine how it can survive in our water supplies after going through intensive cleaning, disinfecting, and the high doses of the deadly poison Chlorine that is dosed into our water supplies! But survive it does, along with many other lesser known contaminants and chemicals that we happily drink every day.

 

Peter Allen 11th August 2009.

 

 

 

 

 

So, presuming that there is a proliferation of LD in a water supply and it cannot be caught by drinking it, nor can it be caught by contact with other people, how is it caught? The answer to that is very simple, by breathing it in. When water droplets are small enough (aerosol size) they are easily breathed in and enter the lungs, where they develop into a very serious, and life threatening pneumonia type disease, Legionella Pneumophila, this would most commonly be from air conditioning, hot tubs, spas, and showers, or anywhere where the right conditions are in place and water droplets are small enough to be breathed in.

 

Hospitals generally have specialised water purification systems installed, similar to the type of Reverse Osmosis systems fitted into many thousands of homes throughout the country, that successfully, filter out Bacteria and give a very high quality of water, with a very high level of other water borne contaminants also. Hospitals also strongly advise that people avoid drinking water that's been through a water softener at any cost. It's dangerous and can damage helath.

 

People, who are most likely to catch the disease, are likely to be middle aged and the elderly.