Legionella

Legionnaires Disease - The condition known as Legionnaires disease was named after an outbreak of a severe pneumonia-like disease that occured at the Belle Vue Stafford Hotel, Philadelphia, USA in 1976, where there was a convention of the Amercian Legion. Legionella pneumophilla, the causative organism for most cases of Legionaires disease, was thought to have been present in the hotel's cooling towers. Somehow, water droplets in the form of an aerosol contaminated the hotel's air conditioning systems allowing the bacteria to come into contact with the convention guests, a highly susceptible population.

The Waterman group has been significantly enhanced with the formation of Mercian Science a fully UKAS accredited micro laboratory which is proud to offer two world first exclusive products these being FASTek™ Rapid Legionella, a method for legionella determination within a four hours. Legionella is common in many environments, with at least 50 species and 70 serogroups identified. Legionella testing is important for the prevention of health risks and general water hygiene.

Our water treatment specialists can test and monitor storage tanks and the air surrounding these to assess the risk of legionella with fast results.