Effectiveness of different methods to control legionella in the water supply: ten-year experience in an Italian university hospital
| Autor: | Paola Borella, S. Cencetti, Isabella Marchesi, M Miselli, Giuseppina Frezza, P. Marchegiano, Annalisa Bargellini |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2011 |
| Předmět: |
Microbiology (medical)
medicine.medical_specialty Hot Temperature Legionella Water supply Distribution system Hospitals University chemistry.chemical_compound Tap water Water Supply polycyclic compounds medicine Humans Chlorine dioxide Cross Infection Infection Control biology Waste management business.industry Boiler (power generation) General Medicine Contamination biology.organism_classification medicine.disease Bacterial Load Surgery Disinfection Infectious Diseases chemistry Italy Costs Effectiveness Hospital-acquired Legionnaires’ disease Hot water distribution system Legionnaires' disease business Water Microbiology Filtration Disinfectants |
| Popis: | We report our ten-year experience of hyperchlorination, thermal shock, chlorine dioxide, monochloramine, boilers and point-of-use filters for controlling legionella contamination in a hospital hot water distribution system. Shock disinfections were associated with a return to pre-treatment contamination levels within one or two months. We found that chlorine dioxide successfully maintained levels at100 cfu/L, whilst preliminary experiments gave satisfactory results with monochloramine. No contamination was observed applying point-of-use filters and electric boilers at temperatures of58°C and no cases of nosocomial legionellosis were detected in the ten-year observation period. Our performance ranking in reducing legionella contamination was filter, boiler, chlorine dioxide, hyperchlorination and thermal shock. Chlorine dioxide was the least expensive procedure followed by thermal shock, hyperchlorination, boiler and filter. We suggest adopting chlorine dioxide and electric boilers in parallel. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|