Detection of Legionella by cultivation and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in biological waste water treatment plants in Norway.

Cases of Legionnaires' disease associated with biological treatment plants (BTPs) have been reported in six countries between 1997 and 2010. However, knowledge about the occurrence of Legionella in BTPs is scarce. Hence, we undertook a qualitative and quantitative screening for Legionella in BTPs treating waste water from municipalities and industries in Norway, to assess the transmission potential of Legionella from these installations.

Prevention of Legionnaires' disease in hospitals.

Background: The first instance of Legionella infection in a Norwegian hospital was confirmed in 2005. We describe the best-known methods of eradicating Legionella in hospitals.

Materials And Method: The article is based on the authors' experience of measures to prevent Legionnaires' disease in hospitals and on a non-systematic search in PubMed.

Alternative routes for dissemination of Legionella pneumophila causing three outbreaks in Norway.

Three outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease were reported in the Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg community, Norway, in 2005 and 2008 caused by the L. pneumophila ST15 and ST462 strains determined by sequence based typing. In this retrospective study, we suggest that the aeration ponds, a part of the biological treatment plant at Borregaard Ind.

Tracking airborne Legionella and Legionella pneumophila at a biological treatment plant.

Biological treatment plants are frequently used to degrade organic substances in wastewater from wood refinement processes. Aeration ponds in such plants provide an optimal growth environment for many microorganisms, including Legionella species. To investigate whether legionellae could be dispersed as aerosols from the ponds and transported by the wind, the wetted-wall cyclone SASS 2000(PLUS) and the impactors MAS-100 and STA-204 were used to collect air samples directly above, upwind, and downwind of aeration ponds during a 4-month period.

An outbreak of legionnaires disease caused by long-distance spread from an industrial air scrubber in Sarpsborg, Norway.

Background: On 21 May 2005, the Norwegian health authorities were alerted by officials from a local hospital that several recent patients had received the diagnosis of legionnaires disease; all patients resided in 2 neighboring municipalities. We investigated the outbreak to identify the source and to implement control measures.

Methods: We interviewed all surviving case patients and investigated and harvested samples from 23 businesses with cooling towers and other potential infection sources.