Legionella Testing in Dubai

Legionella Test for Water

Legionella was first recovered more than 50 years ago from the blood of a soldier but was not accepted as a human pathogen until 1976 as a mysterious pneumonia outbreak affected Pennsylvania American Legion members. The disease was known by the press as Legionnaires disease. In six months, thanks to the efforts of several Pennsylvanian investigators and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the bacterium, then called Legionella Pneumophila, had been isolated and definitively identified as the agent. Legionnaire’s disease is a common name for Legionella disease.

Legionella pneumophila is a bacillary Gram-negative. It survives at high temperatures in stagnant water and the presence of organic material promotes its growth. Legionella pneumophila infects the pulmonary system, causing pneumonia, which is sometimes fatal. It is the cause of Pontiac and Legionnaires’ Disease. The disease of legionnaires may be symptomatic of several other pneumonic forms: high fever, chills, and coughing.

Legionnaire’s disease protection depends on the way potential sources are preserved, including routine cleaning and disinfection (hyper chlorination) and other physical applications (temperature – holding hot and cold water below 60° C) and chemical action (biocide).

Reports of viable but non-culturable [VBNC] Legionella have been published in several journals. In certain cases, it seems that they are associated with living amoebae, with the recorded result that biocides resistance is significantly increased. Special attention should be given when the best test method is chosen for the evaluation of such samples.

Water Management Programs

Water management programs recognize unsafe conditions and take action to mitigate the development of Legionella and other waterborne pathogens in water supplies. Water management programs is a   multistage process that involves a constant analysis is the creation and maintenance of a water management strategy.

A Legionella water management programme includes seven main elements:

• Create a Water Resources Team
• Define the water systems of construction using text and flowcharts
• Focus on areas that can expand and spread Legionella.
• Decide on when and how to track the monitoring steps
• Set forms in which control limits will not be reached
• Ensure that the program is usable and efficient
• Document and connect all the events

Legionella Testing Procedures

Legionella bacteria can occur when water is not regularly or properly checked in plumbing lines or mechanical equipment. There are a number of identification and sampling methods for legionella testing. In order to decide if bacteria are in a water sample, each test method has different efficiency.

The culture method is one method detected by a legionella research laboratory. The process of legionella culture is the solution to the identification of BCYE agar legionella colonies. The cultivation process takes 10 days, a valuable loss of time required for the prevention and detection of exposure. The cultivation method for environment – friendly water samples often is not appropriate as Legionella colonies on BCYE agar media are often overgrown or inhibited by competitive microbial flora that masks the existence of legionella colonies, in particular with water samples taken from mechanical equipment with warm water exposed to environmental conditions such as fountains, cooling towers, and saunas.

The PCR process, or polymerase chain reaction, is another method of research. PCR is a technique that takes only a few hours to complete and can be a useful way of screening samples of drinking water.

The drawback of this approach is that it does not work well for environmental water samples, since soil and waste are highly susceptible to legionella in the sample of water.

The original “gold standard” method for quantitative legionella is the Direct Fluorescent Antibody (DFA) method developed in 1978 by the CDC in both drinking water and environmental samples. By using monoclonal fluorescent antibodies special for many L serogroups, the DFA approach has become more precise and adaptive. Pneumophila and several other legionella species causing the illness of Legionnaires. The DFA process requires experience that is lacking in many legionella trials.

There are two key methods for bringing in a Legionella testing service for sampling water: swab and bottle. The swab sample requires the collection of a sterile swab surface sample. Swab sampling is not popular since the spread of legionella by a single bacteria floating in or spraying in an aerosol would not allow legionella to be quantified in water that contains aerosol. Swab sampling is not common. The most frequent approach is bottle bulk water sampling. The sampling of the bottles consists of water collection from drinking water fittings or mechanical equipment that contain warm water. Bulk water sampling enables the number of legionella numbers by particular water volume.

The HSE plans to conduct all Legionella tests in a UKAS certified laboratory and in a professional specialist who interprets the test results. This must be done to ensure that everything in the legislation is protected and that the water supply is safe. However, the right preparation can be very helpful if you want to perform the water sampling process yourself.

In any case, it is necessary to take the right approach to legionella testing to make you know the safety of your systems.

How Can We Control Legionella Diseases?

Due to the fact that there are such complex interactions between the legionella, the atmosphere, and the host, the occurrence of disease can be regulated in several ways. If there is a water source of infection, Legionella elimination from the source is an efficient control method. This form is so typical for water systems that it is always useful to determine the source from molecular analysis of environmental and clinical strains. Decontamination can, unfortunately, be costly.

The two most popular methods of Legionella eradication are chronic water overheating with the associated risks of scaling and continuous chlorination, worsening the degradation of plumbing systems without careful monitoring. Also, chlorinated drinking water must be handled because chlorine levels decrease, particularly in hot water, with a wider distance from the distribution center. In order to avoid the return of unwanted pathogens, constant vigilance must be maintained.