Today I received a very nice "you blew it!" from Steve Austin of Glasgow, United Kingdom!
Steve wrote me today about my Friday blog entry about Legionella bacteria and Legionnaire's Disease. In the entry, I pointed out that -- as a Legionnaire's Disease lawyer -- I know that "Legionella can breed when air conditioners, pools, or whirlpools are not properly cleaned. It also can be distributed through poorly designed buildings or cooling systems that direct contaminated water droplets directly into the air that people breathe."
Steve Austin said I was right. He told me he completely agrees that: "Legionella becomes dangerous when it is allowed to breed in the warm, stagnant water of cooling towers and whirlpools."
But Steve also pointed out - very nicely, I might add - "You missed another major valid cause domestic systems, e.g., systems that feed hot and cold water within buildings for taps/showers. I have identified deadlegs and plants with no non return valves which hold stagnate water and contaminate buildings."
Great point, Steve!
Absolutely, legionella bacteria may breed due to valves and water system designs that allow stagnate water to collect and contaminate the whole building.
In fact, I have had several people contact me who contracted Legionnaire's Disease from showers and taps that feed hot and cold water, just as Steve suggested. One woman had ended up desperately ill after she had been exposed to legionella in a hot tub situated in the hotel room she had rented in the Tennessee mountains. The system had a crazy design that created the problem in the first place.
Steve notes that he has carried out in excess of 1500 building risk assessments. I thought it was very important the he told me that when legionella contamination occurs, he agrees that "90% are as you said down to bad system design and improper maintenance."
By the way, Steve Austin is the real deal. (And no, he's not the wrestler!) Steve is the Operation Manager Environmental at SPIE Matthew Hall FM in the UK. He has been investigating Legionnaire's Disease cases for 20 years. His entire job is "developing and growing the control of legionella within the Spie Matthew Hall group." He is particularly interested in "the new designs of water systems and the common problems they produce in the modern building and produce solutions to eradicate these without the need of masking the faults with chlorine dioxide."
SPIE Matthew Hall operates out of numerous locations in the UK to provide design, installation, maintenance and facilities management related to health, safety and the environment.
Thanks, Steve, for your very pertinent comment! I really appreciate your taking the time to comment about what I had written.
Since I began looking at Legionnaire's Disease cases, the death rate has dropped dramatically. My opinion is that the difference is due to infectious disease doctors who are now on the lookout for the disease. Even so, 12% of the people who contract Legionnaire's Disease will die. An even larger percentage of elderly people will die because they were exposed to legionella. With those sorts of statistics, as a society we cannot afford to ignore the dangers of legionella breeding in water systems, hot tubs, pools, air conditioning systems, buildings, or anywhere else.
I love it when you comment! Please contact me any time if you think I blew it, if you have suggestions for the blog, or if you just want me to cover something new.
