Legionella and Pseudomonas
Microorganisms like Legionella and Pseudomonas are present in water, including mains water and can infect humans, and cause diseases like, Legionnaires’ disease, Pontiac fever and Pneumonia. Diseases like pneumonia can be fatal, especially in immune-compromised individuals. As shown in the Daily Mail online today, a patient being treated for cancer died because of an infection by Pseudomonas, which she contracted at Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was detected in several hospital rooms, including that of the patient, who died of pneumonia five days after contracting the bacteria, which was also detected in water running from the tap and in the shower drain.
Infestation of water systems by Legionella and Pseudomonas is common in large buildings like hospitals. This is due to poor system layout, poor water use and use of ineffective biocides.
Copper Silver Ionisation For Pseudomonas And Legionella Control
A number of control methods exist and are in use to control Legionella and Pseudomonas bacteria in potable water systems (http://legionella.org/research/legionella-control/). The main methods used being heat and flush, chlorination and temperature control. However, these methods suffer problems. This is because they don’t penetrate the biofilms, formed by bacteria colonies in the water systems, where bacteria colonies hide themselves from the control measure. Furthermore, chlorine-based treatments methods have the added problem of toxicity. This is because chlorine is highly toxic and form disinfection by-products that are hazardous to health.
Table 1 below shows the performance of five treatment technologies for the control of Legionella and Pseudomonas in water systems. As shown in the table, the Orca System is superior to the others. It uses the copper-silver ionisation technology, as it is more effective than the other methods. Furthermore, it does not suffer problems the others do. It also has the advantage of being able to penetrate biofilms that are harboring bacteria inside them. A few USA and UK hospitals have changed their water treatment systems to adopt the copper/silver ionisation system, including Great Ormond Street Children Hospital, London, which uses the Orca System. Our previous blog posted here recently explains how the Orca System works.
For more details about Legionella and Pseudomonas treatment using the Orca System please don’t hesitate to contact our team.
Table 1 – Performance of water treatment technologies for the control of Legionella and Pseudomonas. Click on table for clearer view in another window.
