July 11, 2007—Hospital patients who are vulnerable to infection run a greater risk of contracting Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia, during warm, humid weather, according to a study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. The infection is caused by Legionella bacteria that can live in hospital water systems and throughout the environment, says the Pall Corporation, a leader in the field of filtration, separation and purification.
Legionella bacteria, while usually not a problem for healthy adults, can be serious and even fatal for patients who are immune compromised, including those in Intensive Care Units, the very young and the very old, the chronically ill, and post-surgical, cancer and transplant patients. These patients risk becoming infected through a buildup of microbes that can inhabit a hospital’s water system, where they have oftentimes become resistant to traditional methods of cleaning and disinfection.
At-risk patients can become ill through any exposure to hospital water, whether through ingestion, comforting mouth sores with ice cubes, bathing, inhalation of shower mist or being treated with equipment washed in hospital water.
The germs survive and even thrive in hospital plumbing despite chemical and heat-based treatments designed to eradicate them, says Pall. One option is the addition of point-of-use filtration technology. the company says.
For more information, see the Pall Web site.
