Cooling Towers contribute to the high seroprevalence of Legionella pneumophila antibody among hotel workers

Objectives

Regular disinfection work of the cooling towers (CTs) were carried out according to schedule, nevertheless 89.6% of the CTs were still found to be colonized by Legionella pneumophila in our survey in Changzhou city, China. The aim of the study was to observe the effect of L. pneumophila on workers exposed to contaminated cooling towers (CT).

Methods

A total of 364 subjects were randomly selected for the serum testing and the questionnaire survey. They were either from the hotel with contaminated CTs or without CTs (used as control). heir serum anti-L. pneumophila antibodies were tested using commercial IFA kits.

Results

The results showed that the prevalence of anti-L. pneumophila group 1 antibodies in the exposed population was significantly higher than control subjects (OR?=?2.845, P?=?0.019). The possible confounding factors were analyzed. Questionnaires results analysis found that the frequency of flu-like symptoms in the exposed group was also significantly higher; and the indoor air quality was related to the serum anti-L. pneumophila group 1.

Conclusions

The L. pneumophila contaminated CTs contribute to the high seroprevalence of anti-L. pneumophila antibodies; tap water and shower water are also possible contamination resources.