Legionella

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What is Legionella?

Legionella is so called because of the outbreak in 1976 which affected members of the American Legion Convention in Philadelphia, causing fatalities in approximately 12% of cases.  

There is evidence that the bacterium can be transmitted by ingesting contaminated water and then subsequently inhaling aerosols caused by the ingestion of that water, but in most cases the organism is inhaled as an aerosol (a fine mist that can be inhaled).  The incubation period is 2-10 days. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhoea, a dry cough and difficulty breathing.  Initially a high fever will prevail with, chills, headache and muscle pain, in some cases the individual may become delirious.  Not all exposed however will develop symptoms of the disease and those that do not develop the full-blown disease may only exhibit a mild flu like infection.

The bacterium can be found naturally in environmental water sources such as rivers, lakes and reservoirs usually in low numbers.  They require nutrients to multiply such as algae, amoebae and other bacteria.  Conditions such as scale, sediments and bio films (a build up of other bacteria and organisms that can produce a slime on contact with water) all create the ideal habitats for the Legionella bacteria to multiply.  These habitats also act as a means of protecting the bacteria from biocides that would normally be used to inactivate them in a free suspension.  It is therefore important to reduce the number of these habitats in water systems and reduce the exposure to water droplets and aerosols and so reduce the risk of the exposure to legionella.

How Aqua Analyse Can Help You

If you need your water supply tested to establish whether there is legionella present, we can help by providing a kit to enable you to take a sample of the water yourself which you then send in a prepaid courier bag to an accredited lab for analysis. 

Aqua Analyse is fully compliant with the Legionella Control Association's Code of Conduct (with category 1 status) - run by the Water Management Society.

Aqua Analyse uses a network of UKAS Accredited Laboratories and will find the best laboratory for the analysis that you require ensuring that the analytical work undertaken is of the highest quality; this is paramount if you are to have complete trust in the results obtained.

Once the results are though, we then contact you with the results and any advice necessary. 

We can also send out a trained member of staff to take the sample if you are in the local area, for an additional small charge.