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Two outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease in Bolton Health District

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

E. Mitchell
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory Service, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
M. O'Mahony
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory Service, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
J. M. Watson
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory Service, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
D. Lynch
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory Service, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
C. Joseph
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory Service, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
C. Quigley
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory Service, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
R. Aston
Affiliation:
Bolton Health Authority, 43 Churchgate, Bolton BL1 1JF
G. N. Constable
Affiliation:
Bolton Health Authority, 43 Churchgate, Bolton BL1 1JF
R. J. Farrand
Affiliation:
Bolton Health Authority, 43 Churchgate, Bolton BL1 1JF
S. Maxwell
Affiliation:
Bolton Health Authority, 43 Churchgate, Bolton BL1 1JF
D. N. Hutchinson
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory Service, Royal Preston Hospital, Sharoe Green Lane, Preston PR2 4HG
J. Craske
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory Service, Withington Hospital, Manchester M20 8LR
J. V. Lee
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory Service, Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research, Porton Down, Wiltshire SP4 0JG
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Summary

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In 1988, there were two outbreaks of legionellosis in Bolton Health District. Altogether 37 cases of Legionnaires' disease and 23 cases of non-pneumonic legionellosis were identified. Twenty-five patients with Legionnaires' disease were associated with an engineering plant, 4 with Bolton town centre, and 8 with both the plant and town centre. Twenty-two people with non-pneumonic legionellosis were linked with the engineering plant and one with the plant and the town centre. A case-control study carried out among 37 employees with legionellosis and 109 control subjects at the plant showed that infection was associated with one of the 15 cooling towers on the site. Legionella pneumophila indistinguishable by serological and genetic typing methods was isolated from this cooling tower and from sputum samples from two patients. In the town centre, no one tower was linked with infection and L. pneumophila was not cultured from any of the nine towers identified. Control measures were implemented and to date there have been no further cases of legionellosis associated with Bolton Health District.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

References

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