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Legionella pollution in cooling tower water of air‐conditioning systems in Shanghai, China
Author(s) -
Lin H.,
Xu B.,
Chen Y.,
Wang W.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 1364-5072
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2672.2008.04031.x
Subject(s) - legionella , cooling tower , legionella pneumophila , pollution , environmental science , veterinary medicine , shanghai china , air pollution , environmental health , environmental engineering , toxicology , medicine , geography , biology , water cooling , bacteria , ecology , regional science , mechanical engineering , genetics , engineering
Aims: To determine Legionella pollution prevalence, describe the amount of Legionellae with respect to temperature in Shanghai cooling tower water (CTWs) in various types of public sites. Methods and Results: Six urban districts were selected as the study fields, adopting multiple‐phase sampling methods. Routine culture was used to identify Legionellae. Of the samples, 58·9% (189/321) were observed to be positive, 19·9% were isolated over 100 CFU ml −1 . Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 was the most frequently isolated species (155/189, 82·0%), followed by Leg. micdadei that was at the second place (44/189, 23·3%). The mean CFU ml −1 of Legionellae in CTWs reached its peak from July to September. Over all 15·4% of the samples exceeding 100 CFU ml −1 were observed in a hospital setting. Conclusions: The prevalence of Legionella pollution in CTWs, especially in CTWs of subway stations and hospitals, is worrying, and the positive rate and CFU ml −1 of Legionellae in CTWs have a close relationship with air temperature. Significance and Impact of the Study: The study demonstrates pollution prevalence rates in different types of sites and various seasons, and provides a proportion of different serogroups of Legionellae . It illuminates an urgent need for dealing with the potential risk of legionellosis in Shanghai, through improved control and prevention strategies.