You maybe in the process of putting together your Water Risk Management Plan, but there are other reasons why understanding and maintaining your water systems on site is a good idea. Legionella is not the only microbe that can reside in our man-made water systems. There are more and more cases of recorded poor water quality infections from other bacteria which you may not have heard about. Three notable species are Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Non-Tuberculosis Mycobacteria and Melidiosis – unique to North Queensland.
Pseudomonas like Legionella lives in most environments and reproduces given the right circumstances. It can contaminate hospital equipment, hot tubs, swimming pools and water services. Many infections occur on open wounds or following surgery and similar to Methicillin-Resistant-Staphylococcus-Aureus (MRSA) the bacteria is becoming resistant to some antibiotics. If left unchecked this infection can prove to be deadly especially for those who are at high risk.
Non-Tuberculosis Mycobacteria (NTM) is found naturally in water and an infection occurs when a person inhales the organism. For those who are susceptible, a slow progressive and destructive disease can occur. In most people NTM can be cleared from the lungs but for some it can lead to long-term health effects and really impact someone’s quality of life. Most startlingly, antibiotic treatment for this infection is around 12 months. In America a multi-state study of 31 patients’ homes found that Mycobacterium was isolated from 45% of homes and of them 41% or 17 patients tested positive for the bacteria. Similar to Legionella this bacteria is sensitive to temperature and can be killed at temperatures above 60 degrees celcius.
Since the Townsville floods a recently discovered infection (previously thought to be Pseudomonas), which has been observed in those who worked hard to salvage the damage, Meliodosis caused by Burkholderia Mellei was diagnosed in residents in February this year and three people have died. Health experts think that flooding encourages the bacteria to rise to the surface of saturated ground and transmission is through the lungs when handling contaminated material or through cuts and abrasions on the skin.
Flood affected buildings and breaches of water systems need to ensure their systems are free from these bacteria, some of the same controls for Legionella could be used to prevent other poor water quality infections from water systems. Having protocols for floods or contaminated water supplies is a prudent policy to ensure you protect residents or patients of a facility.
If you think you might need help to review this risks please contact us on:
https://compliancewaterservices.com.au/contact-legionella-specialist-australia/
