domingo, 12 de marzo de 2017

A Large Community Outbreak of Legionnaires' Disease Associated With a Cooling Tower in New York City, 2015. - PubMed - NCBI

A Large Community Outbreak of Legionnaires' Disease Associated With a Cooling Tower in New York City, 2015. - PubMed - NCBI



 2017 Mar/Apr;132(2):241-250. doi: 10.1177/0033354916689620. Epub 2017 Jan 31.

A Large Community Outbreak of Legionnaires' Disease Associated With a Cooling Tower in New York City, 2015.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

Infections caused by Legionella are the leading cause of waterborne disease outbreaks in the United States. We investigated a large outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in New York City in summer 2015 to characterize patients, risk factors for mortality, and environmental exposures.

METHODS:

We defined cases as patients with pneumonia and laboratory evidence of Legionella infection from July 2 through August 3, 2015, and with a history of residing in or visiting 1 of several South Bronx neighborhoods of New York City. We describe the epidemiologic, environmental, and laboratory investigation that identified the source of the outbreak.

RESULTS:

We identified 138 patients with outbreak-related Legionnaires' disease, 16 of whom died. The median age of patients was 55. A total of 107 patients had a chronic health condition, including 43 with diabetes, 40 with alcoholism, and 24 with HIV infection. We tested 55 cooling towers for Legionella, and 2 had a strain indistinguishable by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis from 26 patient isolates. Whole-genome sequencing and epidemiologic evidence implicated 1 cooling tower as the source of the outbreak.

CONCLUSIONS:

A large outbreak of Legionnaires' disease caused by a cooling tower occurred in a medically vulnerable community. The outbreak prompted enactment of a new city law on the operation and maintenance of cooling towers. Ongoing surveillance and evaluation of cooling tower process controls will determine if the new law reduces the incidence of Legionnaires' disease in New York City.

KEYWORDS:

Legionnaires’ disease; cooling tower; outbreak

PMID:
 
28141970
 
DOI:
 
10.1177/0033354916689620


From From Genomics & Health Impact Scan Database
This database includes published scientific literature on evidence-based translation of genomic discoveries into improved health care and disease prevention that have a potential impact on population health.

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