Investigation of the Prevalence of Legionella in Apartment Houses

• Published in: Journal of bacteriology and virology Vol. 51; no. 2; pp. 54 - 61
• Main Authors: Jung-Hee Lee, Myoung-Ki Park, Young-Su Kim, Bu-Geon Lim, Hye-Yeoun Lee, Young-Sug Kim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 대한미생물학회 01.06.2021
• Subjects: 생물학; Legionella; Serotype; Apartment houses; Public-use facilities
• ISSN: 1598-2467; 2093-0429
• DOI: 10.4167/jbv.2021.51.2.54

Apartment houses is typical residential type of South Korea and was presumedthe route of infection of legionellosis. But data on the management status andthe risk of infection about apartment houses is lack. Therefore, we tried toinvestigate of prevalence and risk factors of Legionella in apartment houses. Thisstudy examined 111 samples collected from 37 apartment houses (37 hot water,37 cold water, 37 sediments inside of faucets) and 142 hot water samplescollected from 142 public-use facilities. As a result, nine of 37 apartment houseswere contaminated with Legionella in only hot water and two were contaminatedwith Legionella in hot water and faucets. The prevalence of Legionella in hotwater of apartment houses and public-use facilities was 29.7% and 20.4%,respectively. However, the percentages of bacteria exceeding 1,000 CFU/L was13.5% and 16.2% in respectively. The analysis of the prevalence of Legionella byage of apartment houses showed 6.7% for 1 to 10 years, 33.3% for 10 to 20years and 53.8% exceed 20 years. Analysis of the serotype of isolated Legionellawas that two were L. pneumophila sg1, seven were L. pneumophila sg2-14, andfour were Legionella spp. KCI Citation Count: 0