Legionella outbreaks linked to waste water
In relation to cooling towers and drinking water installations, few Legionella cases with wastewater have been described:
- In 1999, five employees in Denmark got infected with Legionella while working on a wastewater treatment plant at a food company. The employees worked in a confined space and wore the wrong respiratory protection.
- In 2003 and 2004, 86 people in France fell ill with Legionella. Legionella was found in the wastewater treatment plant and cooling tower of a petrochemical company.
- In 2004, an employee in Sweden fell ill after working at a wastewater treatment plant at a paper mill.
- In 2005 and 2008, 64 people in Norway fell ill with Legionella. Legionella bacteria are found in a wastewater treatment plant at a wood processing company.
- In 2005, an employee in Finland falls ill and works 200 meters away from a wastewater treatment plant. Legionella is found in both the wastewater treatment and the nearby cooling tower.
- In 2006, an employee in Finland falls ill after working on an aeration basin.
- In 2013, 78 people fall ill in Germany. Legionella is found in the wastewater treatment plant of a beer brewery. Most likely, legionella spread through a nearby cooling tower.
- In 2017, two employees fall ill in Finland after cleaning an air scrubber of a wastewater treatment plant.
- In 2016 and 2017, 15 people in Boxtel (The netherlands) fall ill with Legionella. After source detection, Legionella is found at a wastewater treatment plant of a meat processing company. The sequence type ST1646 corresponds to five patients. The patients live up to two kilometers from the wastewater purification.
- At the beginning of 2018, Legionella was found at a wastewater treatment plant in Son (The netherlands). Since 2013, there have been more reports of Legionella than expected in that area. In the period from 2013 to March 2018, there were 56 patients, compared to only 11 patients in the previous 5 years (2008-2012). This increase is greater than the national increase. In the period 2013-2017, an identical ST type was detected in 7 out of 17 patients (ST1646). Also in 2018, there was a patient seen where the typing indicated an ST1646.
- In 2018, the water boards recommend not to spray water from ‘the Roer’, after high concentrations of Legionella were found in ‘the Roer’. A paper factory in Düren (Germany) has discharged high concentrations of Legionella into the sewer. The water ended up in the Roer via the sewage treatment plant.
- In 2020, a person in Amerika got infected with Legionella Longbeachae after using dry waste from a water treatment plant to fertilize his garden.
Knowledge of Legionella in waste water
Hydroscope deployed more than 50 risk assesments on waste water treatement plants. Our knowledge is bundled in this document ‘Legionella in waste water‘.
