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Tip of the week: Follow these steps to prevent Legionnaires' disease

Infection Control Weekly Monitor, October 15, 2008

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Legionella continues to be a persistent adversary for hospitals, as one facility in New Jersey has found out.
 
St. Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ, has identified eight patients who contracted Legionnaires’ disease through the facility’s water supply, according to the hospital. 
 
Three of those patients have died.  It is not clear whether Legionella was the direct cause of death or a contributing factor, as all the affected patients received treatment in the oncology unit, reported the Home News Tribune of New Brunswick. Two patients have recovered from Legionnaire’s disease and three remain in the hospital, the facility reported.
 
St. Peter’s has taken the following steps, good tactics for any medical center:

• Flushed and chlorinated the water systems to kill the Legionella bacteria
• Installed new filters in showerheads on the oncology unit, where Legionella had been detected 
• Provided bottled water to patients, visitors, and employees
• Monitored patients who had been admitted to the hospital with pneumonia as well as those readmitted with respiratory illness symptoms (if they had previously been discharged after August 20, which the facility pinpointed as the start of the outbreak)

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