Street Cleaning Trucks as Potential Sources of <i>Legionella pneumophila</i>

Valero, Natalia; Simon, Michaela; Gallés, Pau; Izquierdo, Neus; Arimon, Jaume; González, Raquel; Manzanares-Laya, Sandra; Avellanés, Ingrid; Gómez, Anna

doi:10.3201/eid2311.161390

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…In the past, street-cleaning trucks have been identified as potential sources of Legionella [10]. As these trucks cleaned the streets three days a week in the district because there was a local market, the investigation team had samples taken from ten cleaning trucks.…”

Section: Environmental Investigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Community Outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease with Two Strains of L. pneumophila Serogroup 1 Linked to an Aquatic Therapy Centre

Rousseau

Ginevra

Simac

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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An outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease affected 18 people in Montpellier, a town of the south of France, between December 2016 and July 2017. All cases were diagnosed by a positive urinary antigen test. No deaths were reported. Epidemiological, environmental and genomic investigations (nested Sequence-Based Typing (nSBT) and whole genome sequencing) were undertaken. For the cases for which we had information, four had a new isolate (ST2471), one had a different new isolate (ST2470), one had a genomic pattern compatible with the ST2471 identified by nSBT (flaA = 3), and one had a genomic pattern not compatible with two previous identified STs (pilE = 6). The analysis conducted on the pool of an aquatic therapy center revealed seven isolates of Legionella pneumophila. Whole genome analysis confirmed the link between the environmental and clinical isolates for both ST2470 and ST2471. As the outbreak occurred slowly, with several weeks between new cases, it was not possible to immediately identify a common source. The sixth case was the first to report having aquatic therapy care. Of the 18 cases, eight had attended the aquatic therapy center and the other 10 were inhabitants who lived, worked or walked close to the center. The main cause for this outbreak was the lack of facility maintenance. This investigation highlights the risk to public health of aquatic therapy centers for users and nearby populations, and emphasizes the need for risk reduction measures with specific guidelines to improve health and safety in aquatic facilities.

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Section: Environmental Investigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Community Outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease with Two Strains of L. pneumophila Serogroup 1 Linked to an Aquatic Therapy Centre

Rousseau

Ginevra

Simac

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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“…Legionella is now the number one cause of reported waterborne disease in the United States. The latest epidemiological data showed an increase in LD worldwide (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018;InVS, 2018) with the identification of new sources of contamination by Legionella aerosol dispersion (i.e., car washing stations (Baldovin et al, 2018), street cleaning trucks (Valero et al, 2017), aerosols from biologic wastewater treatment plants (Loenenbach et al, 2018), reclaimed water used for spray irrigation (Pepper and Gerba, 2018), etc.). To assess the risk of infection of LD, researchers have used the quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) method to provide models for aerosol dispersion (Thomas W. ; T. W. Buse et al, 2012;Hamilton and Haas, 2016;Schoen and Ashbolt, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A valuable experimental setup to model exposure to Legionella’s aerosols generated by shower-like systems

et al. 2020

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The mechanism underlying Legionella aerosolization and entry into the respiratory tract remains poorly documented. In previous studies, we characterized the aerodynamic behaviour of Legionella aerosols and assessed their regional deposition within the respiratory tract using a human-like anatomical model. The aim of this study was to assess whether this experimental setup could mimic the exposure to bioaerosols generated by showers. To achieve this objective we performed experiments to measure the mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) as well as the emitted dose and the physiological state of the airborne bacteria generated by a shower and two nebulizers (vibrating-mesh and jet nebulizers). The MMADs of the dispersed bioaerosols were characterized using a 12-stage cascade low-pressure impactor. The amount of dispersed airborne bacteria from a shower was quantified using a Coriolis® Delta air sampler and compared to the airborne bacteria reaching the thoracic region in the experimental setup. The physiological state and concentration of airborne Legionella were assessed by qPCR for total cells, culture for viable and cultivable Legionella (VC), and flow cytometry for viable but noncultivable Legionella (VBNC). In summary, the experimental setup developed appears to mimic the bioaerosol emission of a shower in terms of aerodynamic size distribution. Compared to the specific case of a shower used as a reference in this study, the experimental setup developed underestimates by 2 times (when the jet nebulizer is used) or overestimates by 43 times (when the vibrating-mesh nebulizer is used) the total emitted dose of airborne bacteria. To our knowledge, this report is the first showing that an experimental model mimics so closely an exposure to Legionella aerosols produced by showers to assess human lung deposition and infection in well-controlled and safe conditions.

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“…L. pneumophila can colonize man-made water settings from natural water sources, being now considered as an opportunistic plumbing pathogen. Through the literature, we can notice that LD outbreaks have been linked to a variety of water sources like cooling towers, drinking water supply systems, spa pools, and even street cleaning trucks [ 4 – 6 ]. Multiplication of Legionella in those artificial water systems is highly facilitated by temperatures around 35°C and factors such as water stagnation, poor maintenance, no or reduced water disinfection and the presence of free-living protozoa feeding on biofilms [ 7 , 8 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Highlighting the Potency of Biosurfactants Produced by Pseudomonas Strains as Anti-Legionella Agents

Loiseau

Portier

Corre

et al. 2018

BioMed Research International

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Legionella pneumophila, the causative agent of Legionnaires' disease, is a waterborne bacterium mainly found in man-made water systems in close association with free-living amoebae and multispecies biofilms. Pseudomonas strains, originating from various environments including freshwater systems or isolated from hospitalized patients, were tested for their antagonistic activity towards L. pneumophila. A high amount of tested strains was thus found to be active. This antibacterial activity was correlated to the presence of tensioactive agents in culture supernatants. As Pseudomonas strains were known to produce biosurfactants, these compounds were specifically extracted and purified from active strains and further characterized using reverse-phase HPLC and mass spectrometry methods. Finally, all biosurfactants tested (lipopeptides and rhamnolipids) were found active and this activity was shown to be higher towards Legionella strains compared to various other bacteria. Therefore, described biosurfactants are potent anti-Legionella agents that could be used in the water treatment industry although tests are needed to evaluate how effective they would be under field conditions.

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Street Cleaning Trucks as Potential Sources of Legionella pneumophila

Cited by 8 publications

References 11 publications

A Community Outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease with Two Strains of L. pneumophila Serogroup 1 Linked to an Aquatic Therapy Centre

A Community Outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease with Two Strains of L. pneumophila Serogroup 1 Linked to an Aquatic Therapy Centre

A valuable experimental setup to model exposure to Legionella’s aerosols generated by shower-like systems

Highlighting the Potency of Biosurfactants Produced by Pseudomonas Strains as Anti-Legionella Agents

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