Legionnaires' Disease Outbreak at a Long-Term Care Facility Caused by a Cooling Tower Using an Automated Disinfection System--Ohio, 2013

Celia Quinn; Alicia Demirjian; Louise F.rancois Watkins; Sara Tomczyk; Claressa Lucas; Ellen Brown; Natalia Kozak-Muiznieks; Alvaro Benitez; Laurel E. Garrison; Jasen Kunz; Scott Brewer; Samantha Eitniear; Mary DiOrio

Legionnaires' Disease Outbreak at a Long-Term Care Facility Caused by a Cooling Tower Using an Automated Disinfection System--Ohio, 2013

Celia Quinn, Alicia Demirjian, Louise F.rancois Watkins, Sara Tomczyk, Claressa Lucas, Ellen Brown, Natalia Kozak-Muiznieks, Alvaro Benitez, Laurel E. Garrison, Jasen Kunz, Scott Brewer, Samantha Eitniear, Mary DiOrio

AMR NAP: Human infection prevention and control

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

On July 9, 2013, an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease (LD) was identified at Long-Term Care Facility A in central Ohio. This article describes the investigation of the outbreak and identification of the outbreak source, a cooling tower using an automated biocide delivery system. In total, 39 outbreak LD cases were identified; among these, six patients died. Water samples from a cooling tower were positive for Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1, reactive to monoclonal antibody 2, with matching sequence type to a patient isolate. An electronic control system turned off cooling tower pumps during low-demand periods, preventing delivery of disinfectant by a timed-release system, and leading to amplification of Legionella in the cooling tower. Guidelines for tower maintenance should address optimal disinfection when using automated systems.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	8-13
Number of pages	6
Journal	Journal of environmental health
Volume	78
Issue number	5
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2015

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Quinn, C., Demirjian, A., Watkins, L. F. R., Tomczyk, S., Lucas, C., Brown, E., Kozak-Muiznieks, N., Benitez, A., Garrison, L. E., Kunz, J., Brewer, S., Eitniear, S., & DiOrio, M. (2015). Legionnaires' Disease Outbreak at a Long-Term Care Facility Caused by a Cooling Tower Using an Automated Disinfection System--Ohio, 2013. Journal of environmental health, 78(5), 8-13.

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abstract = "On July 9, 2013, an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease (LD) was identified at Long-Term Care Facility A in central Ohio. This article describes the investigation of the outbreak and identification of the outbreak source, a cooling tower using an automated biocide delivery system. In total, 39 outbreak LD cases were identified; among these, six patients died. Water samples from a cooling tower were positive for Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1, reactive to monoclonal antibody 2, with matching sequence type to a patient isolate. An electronic control system turned off cooling tower pumps during low-demand periods, preventing delivery of disinfectant by a timed-release system, and leading to amplification of Legionella in the cooling tower. Guidelines for tower maintenance should address optimal disinfection when using automated systems.",

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AU - Tomczyk, Sara

AU - Lucas, Claressa

AU - Brown, Ellen

AU - Kozak-Muiznieks, Natalia

AU - Benitez, Alvaro

AU - Garrison, Laurel E.

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AU - Eitniear, Samantha

AU - DiOrio, Mary

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AB - On July 9, 2013, an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease (LD) was identified at Long-Term Care Facility A in central Ohio. This article describes the investigation of the outbreak and identification of the outbreak source, a cooling tower using an automated biocide delivery system. In total, 39 outbreak LD cases were identified; among these, six patients died. Water samples from a cooling tower were positive for Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1, reactive to monoclonal antibody 2, with matching sequence type to a patient isolate. An electronic control system turned off cooling tower pumps during low-demand periods, preventing delivery of disinfectant by a timed-release system, and leading to amplification of Legionella in the cooling tower. Guidelines for tower maintenance should address optimal disinfection when using automated systems.

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Legionnaires' Disease Outbreak at a Long-Term Care Facility Caused by a Cooling Tower Using an Automated Disinfection System--Ohio, 2013

Abstract

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