It has long been noted that Legionella control in the USA is much more relaxed than Europe, and much of the Western world. That may be about to change, at least in the state of Texas, with a bill to control Legionella and other water borne pathogens in spray parks. The proposal “seeks to apply the same level of standards, currently required for pools and spas to spray fountain parks and interactive water features”, and is focussed not just on Legionella but also E. Coli and Cryptosporidium.
Time will tell if this Bill will make it through the legislative process and have any real effect on improving water hygiene. In such a litigous culture, we find it strange that regulation would be required to get people to follow basic hygiene practices, but it is clear from our experience that worldwide interest in Legionella and other microbial hazards is driven all too often by legislation rather than actually avoiding risk of infection.
Research by Chartered Institute of Environmental Health in Wales found alarming levels of bacteria in water features at garden centres in South Wales. None, had detectable levels of Legionella, but many had E. coli and other bacteria growing without adequate control measures. Splashing water can generate aerosols, and potentially can infect customers and staff, whilst children are innevitable drawn to the features.
Hydrosense today began development of a new product which will help users in the Soaps, Toiletries, Detergents, and related markets more rapidly assess the microbial safety of their products. The work which is part funded by a SMART:Scotland Award from the Scottish Government, will see a simple test developed which will classify bacteria very quickly enabling those responsible for product release in these industries to make quick effective decisions about how to respond to products with microbial contamination in them.
Somewhere in the world there always seems to be an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease developing. We won’t use this Blog to produce the details of every one, but will try to highlight some of the most interesting, unusual or higher profile cases.
This week has seen Legionnaires’ disease investigations focussed on Dubai, after an outbreak infecting three people (including one fatality). Our discussions with industry experts in recent years has suggested that the conditions in Dubai are very good for the proliferation of Legionella, but that awareness of the risk was low. It will be interesting to see if this results in increased regulation or more proactive management of the risk. However even where the risk are well publicised outbreaks continue to happen as is the case recently at a hospital in Atlanta.
Sometimes the results of Legionella colonising a water system aren’t as tragic or dramatic as deaths and illnesses but are extremely distruptive or just plain embarrasing, e.g. yesterday police officers refused to attend a court in Australia over fears the air conditioning contained Legionella, and much closer to home the Scottish Parliament admitted to having Legionella in its shower systems just a few weeks after Alex Johnstone MSP, a member of the Parliament’s Housekeeping Committee told the Scotsman, “I would be very surprised if this happened again”.
This blog will allow the hydrosense team to share information they think might be of interest to our customers, suppliers, investors and partners, and in particular to highlight topical events relevant to Industrial, Environmental or Water Hygiene, as well as unusual or events or news stories.
