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Exposure to Legionellaceae at a hot spring spa: a prospective clinical and serological study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

N. Bornstein ,
D. Marmet ,
M. Surgot ,
M. Nowicki ,
A. Arslan ,
J. Esteve  and
J. Fleurette
N. Bornstein
Affiliation:
Centre National de Référence des Légionelloses, Laboratoire National de la Santé, Faculté de Médecine Alexis Carrel, Rue Guillaume Paradin, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08
D. Marmet
Affiliation:
Centre National de Référence des Légionelloses, Laboratoire National de la Santé, Faculté de Médecine Alexis Carrel, Rue Guillaume Paradin, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08
M. Surgot
Affiliation:
Centre National de Référence des Légionelloses, Laboratoire National de la Santé, Faculté de Médecine Alexis Carrel, Rue Guillaume Paradin, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08
M. Nowicki
Affiliation:
Centre d'Etude et de Recherche Bactériologique, Institut Pasteur de Lyon, Rue Guillaume Paradin, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08
A. Arslan
Affiliation:
Centre International de Recherche sur le Cancer, 150, cours Albert Thomas, 69003 Lyon
J. Esteve
Affiliation:
Centre International de Recherche sur le Cancer, 150, cours Albert Thomas, 69003 Lyon
J. Fleurette
Affiliation:
Centre National de Référence des Légionelloses, Laboratoire National de la Santé, Faculté de Médecine Alexis Carrel, Rue Guillaume Paradin, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08
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Summary

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Following the occurrence of five cases of Legionnaires' disease among patients and therapists at a French hot spring spa, a series of cleansing procedures and an epidemiological study were undertaken. During a 3-month period, the spring water was repeatedly sampled. Serum samples were taken from 689 randomly selected patients, 230 therapists, 134 administrative staff and a control group of 904 blood donors.

Legionellaceae were present in the spring water at concentrations of 103–1055 colony forming units/1. Fifteen different species or serogroups were isolated with Legionella pneumophila serogroups 3 and 1 predominating. No clinical cases of Legionnaires disease were observed during the study. However, 11% of the therapists and 5% of the patients either had a high titre of antibody (≥256) to at least one species or serogroup or seroconverted during the study. Mean antibody titres in the three study groups were significantly higher than those in the blood donors against 11 of the 32 legionella antigens tested. Nine of these 11 antigens corresponded to species or serogroups isolated from the spring water. The highest mean antibody titres in all three study groups were against L. pneumophila serogroup 3, the most common legionella in the spring water.

These findings have important implications for the maintenance of adequate standards of hygiene, bacteriological sampling and clinical surveillance in this and similar establishments.

Type
Research Article
Information
Epidemiology & Infection , Volume 102 , Issue 1 , February 1989 , pp. 31 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

References

REFERENCES

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