Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Legionnaires' disease is normally acquired by inhalation of legionellae from a contaminated environmental source. Water systems of large buildings, such as hospitals, are often contaminated with legionellae and therefore represent a potential risk for the hospital population. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential contamination of Legionella pneumophila (LP) in a large hospital in Italy through georeferential statistical analysis to assess the possible sources of dispersion and, consequently, the risk of exposure for both health care staff and patients.\r\n\r\n\r\nMATERIALS AND METHOD: LP serogroups 1 and 2-14 distribution was considered in the wards housed on two consecutive floors of the hospital building. On the basis of information provided by 53 bacteriological analysis, a 'random' grid of points was chosen and spatial geostatistics or FAIk Kriging was applied and compared with the results of classical statistical analysis.\r\n\r\n\r\nRESULTS: Over 50% of the examined samples were positive for Legionella pneumophila. LP 1 was isolated in 69% of samples from the ground floor and in 60% of sample from the first floor; LP 2-14 in 36% of sample from the ground floor and 24% from the first. The iso-estimation maps show clearly the most contaminated pipe and the difference in the diffusion of the different L. pneumophila serogroups.\r\n\r\n\r\nCONCLUSION: Experimental work has demonstrated that geostatistical methods applied to the microbiological analysis of water matrices allows a better modeling of the phenomenon under study, a greater potential for risk management and a greater choice of methods of prevention and environmental recovery to be put in place with respect to the classical statistical analysis.
Lingua originale | Inglese |
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pagine (da-a) | 655-660 |
Numero di pagine | 6 |
Rivista | Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine |
Volume | 22 |
Numero di pubblicazione | 4 |
DOI | |
Stato di pubblicazione | Pubblicato - 2015 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Ecologia, Evoluzione, Comportamento e Sistematica
- Gestione e Smaltimento dei Rifiuti
- Salute Pubblica, Salute Ambientale e Occupazionale
Keywords
- Geostatistics
- Kriging
- Legionella pneumophila
- hospital
- water systems