Legionnaires' disease

mark schofield

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30003028

just a reminder. I often forget about this.

icesailor

This is lame. People have been dying from Legionnaire's Disease before they figured out that it was a specific common bacteria, found everywhere and especially in soil. Also found in shower heads. If you're young and don't have a compromised immune system, you might get a cold. If you're getting Chemotherapy for lung cancer or have COPD, you'll probably die without heavy medical support. There's big business chlorinating cooling towers.

There was a diagnosed outbreak at a hospital somewhere. They found that old people that were in rooms downwind of a cooling tower were the ones who got sick. They mixed something into the cooling tower water and then were able to see the water vapor on the side of the building. The heaviest patterns were around the rooms that had the highest spray mist exposure.

Cooling Towers like shower heads have the perfect temperatures for the Legionella Bacteria to survive. Obviously, they didn't get the message in Portugal. Chlorinate your cooling towers.

But, potable water systems are a greater reservoir for it

Click on the whole text, not just the Abstract.

If you're sick, the last place you want to be in is a hospital. You're usually better off at home.

http://www.ajicjournal.org/article/S0196-6553(05)00914-4/fulltext

Techman

Geez, going back a year or two ago when I was young aprentist we were"taught" how to cool our self off on those hot hot days, by standing in the water mist coming off of those cooling towers. Humm.

pecmsg

Techman said:

Geez, going back a year or two ago when I was young aprentist we were"taught" how to cool our self off on those hot hot days, by standing in the water mist coming off of those cooling towers. Humm.

I don’t know about a year or two but I’ll bet that cool mist was loaded with chromates!
Its not easy getting old!

Techman

Come on now Paul! Bear with me a little, LOL. Maybe thats why certain body parts (that don't see much sunlite) glow in the dark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SlamDunk

My water treatment rep brought British coleague from Canada to sell my company on a new,expensive, regimen to treat our cooling tower water. He said Legionaires disease prevention is a big deal in Europe. He recommended we open all spigots and lightly used faucets weekly, if not more often, to move potentially contaminated water out of our dead legs. He also claimed if our towers spew out legionaire bacteria, they can trace it to our towers with DNA and we would be responsible for everyone's healthcare and opened to lawsuits.

He asked me to show him our water system and as we walked it down, he found potential problem after problem, even though this facility is only 8 yrs old, certified "green", built to code, inspected annually by a dozen gov't agencies, and maintained to code. It wasnt good enough for him.

When we got to the towers, both reps refuse to climb in. Even the one responsible for applying biocides and other stuff to our condenser water.

It was a big "fear " sales pitch that my company did not buy into it since the water is treated and tested monthly.

In the end, after a few terse words, they both walked through all eight cooling towers because I have to weekly. It is good to be safe, concientious of our systems and pro-active (and we are) but this guy came across as a nut.