Alert after man taken ill with bug
Hundreds of workers have been put on alert after their colleague was taken ill with the potentially deadly Legionnaires' disease.
More than 400 Severn Trent staff have been told to watch for symptoms after a man working at the Leicester Water Centre, in Anstey Lane, Beaumont Leys, was diagnosed with the bug.
Officials from the Health Protection Agency have been called in to investigate the source of the infection as it is not yet clear where the employee caught the disease.
The man has been treated in hospital and is said to be making a good recovery.
Legionnaires' disease is caused by people inhaling legionella bacteria in infected water vapour, which develops into a type of pneumonia. Deaths occur in 10 to 15 per cent of cases.
Severn Trent staff have been told to seek medical advice if they start to suffer muscle aches, tiredness, fever and a dry cough.
A spokeswoman said: "Investigations are currently being undertaken by regional Health Protection Agency professionals to determine what may have caused it.
"They have not been able to confirm any source and are working with the individual to trace his movements over a period of time.
"We have worked closely with these health professionals throughout to provide them with the information they need.
"We have no reason to believe that the site is the source of this isolated incident.
"As a precaution, we have also carried out full chlorination, flushing and re-testing of all water systems."
The legionella bacteria can live in all types of water. It only becomes a risk to health when the temperature allows it to grow rapidly, such as in water systems which are not properly designed, installed or maintained.
The spokeswoman said a number of precautionary measures were being taken.
She said: "As soon as we were made aware that a member of staff had been hospitalised, we took extra steps to further ensure the health and safety of staff, contractors and visitors. This included the closure of showers, jet washes and car washes.
"All managers on the site were also fully briefed and staff advised of the symptoms to look out for, with the advice they should contact their GP for a check-up if they are at all concerned.
"Our site is well managed, with monthly temperature checks and weekly flushing of systems to ensure there can be no build up of legionella. The latest review was carried out in the last few weeks and no adverse findings were reported.
"Storage tanks are on an annual programme for disinfection and this has been carried out within the last few months."
A spokeswoman from the Health Protection Agency confirmed its involvement in the investigation.
She said: "We have had a case of Legionnaires' disease and all necessary public health actions are being taken."
One employee, who asked not to be named, said: "I know it's not contagious, but it's still very worrying because no-one knows where this has come from."
People of all ages can be affected by Legionnaires' disease, but those over 50 and smokers are at higher risk.
4 Comments
by Helen Clarke, ESSEX
Monday, March 30 2009, 8:12AM
“Here is an article that I FOUND useful and thought may be of interest to readers:
Legionella Monitoring: Are you at risk of a fatal outbreak?
With at least 300 cases in the UK so far this year and fines in excess of £700,000 being issued to organisations, control of Legionella has been forced to the forefront of our minds. The introduction of strict government guidelines (L8) has triggered us to step back and re-consider how we are currently controlling this deadly disease. We are beginning to investigate whether we are doing enough, both to protect ourselves and those under our care.
What is Legionnaires disease, what measures are we taking and what more can we do?
Legionnaires' disease is a potentially fatal form of pneumonia which can affect anybody, but which principally affects those who are susceptible because of age, illness, immunosuppression and smoking. The most susceptible group of people are males, adults over 45, smokers, alcoholics, diabetics and those with cancer or chronic respiratory or kidney disease.
It is caused by the bacterium Legionella pneumophila and related bacteria which grows when certain conditions are present, particularly in water systems. Particle spray from taps or water cooling tanks are a common source of infection, attacking victims who breathe in the particles which find their way deep into the lungs.
Legionella may, and often is present within a water system but is not dangerous unless the conditions support its growth. Therefore it is vital that these conditions are accurately monitored. Its prevention is your responsibility.
Your responsibility
By ensuring that water temperatures are kept outside of prime growth temperatures (20-50°C) facilities managers can ensure Legionella does not fester and grow within their system. Usual practice is to take temperature readings manually to ensure that this does not happen.
However, recent doubts over how accurate and therefore safe this is have called for a new measurement and monitoring system. As the age of manual data monitoring draws to a close, the benefits of more accurate systems are being exploited. An ideal system is one that automatically and consistently takes readings over a regular time period and sends this information to the person responsible for its monitoring.
Common Misconceptions
Poorly advised monitoring or inaccuracies in data collection can be fatal. There are many misconceptions in the field of Legionella monitoring causing both dangers to human lives and costs from government issued fines. Partial knowledge can be as dangerous as no knowledge when dealing with Legionella. A common misconception among those monitoring is that a Legionella Monitoring system is not necessary if a Thermostatic Mixing Valve (TMV) is in place. This is not the case.
The truth is, although it can appear to aid your Legionella control, the TMV is not designed for this purpose and so is ineffective. TMVs were originally designed to prevent scolding at the outlet when hot water systems distribute water at very high temperatures. Distributing the hot water at high temperatures (in excess of 60¿C) will eliminate Legionella, but once this water has passed through a TMV risks increase at as it mixes with the cold supply especially on infrequently used outlets. Should the cold water supply be the source of contamination, then you could have a potential outbreak. Additionally, should there be a fault in the hot water the risk of contamination is increased if and when it is distributed at lower temperatures.
Even with TMV¿s in place you should still monitor the temperature of your water system. The Approved code of practice states that regular monitoring of both hot and cold water temperatures should be carried out on the input to TMV¿s on a sentinel basis, monitoring the temperature control regime.
Action
Full government guidelines of the do¿s and don¿ts of Legionella Monitoring can be ”
by J, Leicester
Friday, March 27 2009, 2:42PM
“As far as I am aware the Leicester Water Centre is an administrive facility ( in other words - an office block) not a water treatment plant so the general public's water will not have been effected.”
by fred, Groby
Friday, March 27 2009, 12:47PM
“There is absolutely no need to worry. You have to inhale water droplets at the source to have any chance of developing the disease and then be in a risk category such as smokers and elderly. The source is likely to be an air conditoning unit or equipment where warm water can stagnate. legionella bacteria can be found anywhere water is found but not in high enough concentrations to be a problem.”
by HB, Bradgate Heights
Friday, March 27 2009, 10:21AM
“So what is the health advise for citizens? I guess we must only use boiled water until further update from Severn Trent.”