Environmental Cultures and Hospital-Acquired Legionnaires' Disease: A 5-Year Prospective Study in 20 Hospitals in Catalonia, Spain

Sabrià, Miquel; Mòdol, Josep María; García-Núñez, Marian; Reynaga, Esteban; Pedro‐Botet, María Luisa; Sopena, Nieves; Rey-Joly, Celestino

doi:10.1086/502346

Cited by 50 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 23 publications

(20 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The present study in accordance with previous results indicated that the hot water system of health-care facilities are important sources of nosocomial legionellosis infections [32,37]. However, the experience shows that the operators are still not aware of the associated risk, and the ad-hoc interventions following the positive samples are generally not suffi cient for risk management.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Majority of the Hungarian hot water systems -including health care facilities -are operating without any awareness of Legionella risk or targeted risk [18,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. Most published surveillance studies from various geographic locations (Canada, Taiwan and USA) report 60-70% colonization rates on similar sample size [18,31,34].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Legionella prevalence and risk of legionellosis in Hungarian hospitals

Barna

Kádár

Kálmán

et al. 2015

Acta Microbiologica et Immunologica Hungarica

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nosocomial legionellosis is a growing concern worldwide. In Hungary, about 20% of the reported cases are health-care associated, but in the absence of legal regulation, environmental monitoring of Legionella is not routinely performed in hospitals. In the present study, 23 hospitals were investigated. The hot water distribution system was colonized by Legionella in over 90%; counts generally exceeded the public health limit value. Hot water temperature was critically low in all systems (<45 °C), and large differences (3-38 °C temperature drop) were observed within buildings, indicating insuffi cient circulation. Most facilities were older than 30 years (77%); however, new systems (n = 3) were also shown to be rapidly colonized at low hot water temperature. Vulnerable source of drinking water, complex distribution system, and large volume hot water storage increased the risk of Legionella prevalence (OR = 28.0, 27.3, 27.7, respectively). Risk management interventions (including thermal or chemical disinfection) were only effi cient if the system operation was optimized. Though the risk factors were similar, in those hospitals where nosocomial legionellosis was reported, Legionella counts and the proportion of L. pneumophila sg 1 isolates were signifi cantly higher. The results of environmental prevalence of legionellae in hospitals suggest that the incidence of nosocomial legionellosis is likely to be underreported. The observed colonization rates call for the introduction of a mandatory environmental monitoring scheme.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Legionella prevalence and risk of legionellosis in Hungarian hospitals

Barna

Kádár

Kálmán

et al. 2015

Acta Microbiologica et Immunologica Hungarica

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…[5][6][7] Extent of colonization is calculated based on the percent distal site positivity (ie, the percent of water faucets that yield Legionella as compared with the total number of cultures taken). If more than 30% of the sampled outlets are positive (especially for Legionella pneumophila), actions should be taken to mitigate the risk to hospitalized patients.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental culturing for Legionella: Can we build a better mouse trap?

Stout

2010

American Journal of Infection Control

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Ein Zusammenhang zwischen der Kontamination von Trinkwasserinstallationen mit Legio nellen und einem Infektionsrisiko für die Nutzer dieser Trinkwasserinstallationen wurde unter anderem von Sabrià beschrieben [1]. Konsens Legionella in drinking water.…”

Section: Bewertung Der Gemeldeten Legionellosen-fallzahlenunclassified