The Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) says that there is considerable evidence supporting the theory that the source of the Barrow outbreak was the air conditioning plant in the town's council-owned leisure centre. The report states: "The suspected plant was heavily colonised with Legionella pneumophila. Samples taken from other plants in the area failed to show legionella spp."
According to the PHLS the fatality rate for the Barrow outbreak is considerably lower than previously observed. Geoff Brundrett, chairman of the CIBSE TM13 committee on legionnaires' disease, and vice president of the Royal Society of Health, comments: "Normally, one could expect a fatality rate of around 7%. In this case, I think that the health services have coped very well."
There are 150 to 200 reported outbreaks of legionnaires' disease in the UK each year. Brundrett comments that in spite of the fact that legionnaires'' is a preventable disease, the number of cases seems to be rising. "In 1992, the Health and Safety Executive brought out L8 guidance and this was updated in 2000. However, the UK does not seem to be following the guidance very well."
Brundrett cites a recent survey of 600 cooling towers (carried out in 1997 to 1999). "Over a third were not following the first guideline which states that an individual at management level must have responsibility for checking and maintenance."
One other possible reason for more outbreaks is the cutting of building maintenance budgets.
For more information on legionnaires'' disease and guidance see CIBSE Guide TM13, available from www.cibse.org.
Source
Building Sustainable Design
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