A Large Outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease at a Flower Show, the Netherlands, 1999

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Emerg Infect Dis
• Personal Author:
  Den Boer, Jeroen W. ; Yzerman, Ed P.F. ; Schellekens, Joop ; Lettinga, Kamilla D. ; Boshuizen, Hendriek C. ; Van Steenbergen, Jim E. ; Bosman, Arnold ; Van den Hof, Susan ; Van Vliet, Hans A. ; Peeters, Marcel F. ; Van Ketel, Ruud J. ; Speelman, Peter ; Kool, Jacob L. ; Van Spaendonck, Marina A.E. Conyn
  More +
• Description:
  In 1999, an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease affected many visitors to a flower show in the Netherlands. To identify the source of the outbreak, we performed an environmental investigation, as well as a case-control study among visitors and a serologic cohort study among exhibitors to measure exposure to possible sources. Of 77,061 visitors, 188 became ill (133 confirmed and 55 probable cases), for an attack rate of 0.23% for visitors and 0.61% for exhibitors. Two whirlpool spas in halls 3 and 4 of the exhibition and a sprinkler in hall 8 were culture positive for Legionella pneumophila. One of three genotypes found in both whirlpool spas was identical to the isolates from 28 of 29 culture-positive patients. Persons who paused at the whirlpool spa in hall 3 were at increased risk for becoming ill. This study illustrates that whirlpool spas may be an important health hazard if disinfection fails.
• Subjects:
  • Research
  • Legionnaires’ disease
  • outbreaks
  • environmental microbiology
  • pulsed-field gel electrophoresis
  • case-control studies
  • cohort studies
  • seroepidemiologic studies
  • Adult
  • Aged
  More +
• Source:
  Emerg Infect Dis. 8(1):37-43.
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Volume:
  8
• Issue:
  1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/13774/cdc_13774_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 288.83 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:9d99163733af382346c953cad3710cd23ede022ae7ce92ff9cfe200dc5b4896f