LEGIONELLA - World Health Organization
LEGIONELLA - World Health Organization
LEGIONELLA - World Health Organization
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9.4 Case studies<br />
This section describes:<br />
• a community outbreak in England (Section 9.4.1)<br />
• a health-care facility outbreak in Israel (Section 9.4.2)<br />
• an outbreak associated with hot tubs in Austria (Section 9.4.3)<br />
• a case of Legionnaires' disease associated with a concrete batcher process on a construction<br />
site in the UK (Section 9.4.4).<br />
9.4.1 Community outbreak — England<br />
In late 2003, 27 cases and two deaths were associated with an outbreak in a small city in England.<br />
As soon as the outbreak was recognized, the outbreak control team was convened. The team<br />
constructed a case definition, and carried out detailed epidemiological and environmental<br />
investigations.<br />
The source of the outbreak was shown to be the cooling towers at an industrial plant used to<br />
make cider. The industrial process involved switching on the cooling towers once a year, when<br />
the apples used to make the cider were delivered to the plant for processing.<br />
None of the workforce became ill, but clinical isolates obtained from two of the cases were<br />
indistinguishable by sequence-based typing methods from the environmental isolates obtained<br />
from the cooling tower water samples (Gaia et al., 2003).<br />
The investigation included use of meteorological data, plume modelling, helicopter infrared<br />
surveillance of potential sources of infection, and geographical information systems for analysis<br />
of patient travel in the local vicinity over the outbreak period.<br />
The outbreak was stopped when the cooling towers were shut down (Anon, 2003).<br />
9.4.2 Nosocomial outbreak — Israel<br />
During a two-week period in June–July 2000, a nosocomial outbreak of Legionella pneumonia<br />
caused by L. pneumophila serogroup 3 occurred in four patients, following haematopoietic<br />
stem cell transplantation, in a new bone marrow transplant unit. The causative organism was<br />
recovered from the water supply system to the same unit, just before the outbreak occurred.<br />
Serologic screening revealed no other cases of Legionella pneumonia in 19 consecutive bone<br />
marrow transplant patients hospitalized in the same unit at the same time.<br />
The outbreak was contained by early recognition, immediate restrictions of the use of tap water,<br />
antibiotic prophylaxis for all non-infected patients, and water decontamination by hyperchlorination<br />
and superheating. In November 2000 and February 2001, two more nosocomially acquired<br />
cases occurred, along with the re-emergence of Legionella in the water.<br />
<strong>LEGIONELLA</strong> AND THE PREVENTION OF LEGIONELLOSIS