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1994 (English)In: Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases, ISSN 0036-5548, E-ISSN 1651-1980, Vol. 26, no 4, p. 417-425Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
We report a nosocomial outbreak of Legionella pneumophila serogroup (sg) 1 infection at the general hospital, Värnamo, Sweden. From December 1990 to February 1991, 28 patients and 3 staff fell ill with pneumonia and 3 died. L. pneumophila sg 1 together with several other Legionellae were isolated from the hot water supply to 17 of 20 hospital wards, probably being spread by aerosolization via shower nozzles. Raising the hospital's hot water temperature from 45°C to 65°C, together with heat disinfection of the shower equipment, arrested the outbreak within a week. Keeping the hot water temperature < 60°C without chlorination eliminated L. pneumophila from < 75% of the wards. During a period of 2 years after the outbreak we have diagnosed only 1 case of nosocomial legionellosis at the hospital despite an active surveillance program.
National Category
Medical and Health Sciences
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-84311 (URN)10.3109/00365549409008615 (DOI)
2012-10-042012-10-042017-12-07Bibliographically approved