Water Safety Plan, Monochloramine Disinfection and Extensive Environmental Sampling Effectively Control <i>Legionella</i> and Other Waterborne Pathogens in Nosocomial Settings: The Ten-Year Experience of an Italian Hospital
<i>Legionella</i> contamination control is crucial in healthcare settings where patients suffer an increased risk of disease and fatal outcome. To ensure an effective management of this health hazard, the accurate application of a hospital-specific Water Safety Plan (WSP), the choice of...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-07-01
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| Series: | Microorganisms |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/11/7/1794 |
| _version_ | 1827732287141183488 |
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| author | Claudio Farina Eleonora Cacciabue Franca Averara Nadia Ferri Francesca Vailati Gabriele Del Castillo Antonello Serafini Beatrice Fermi Nicola Doniselli Fabio Pezzoli |
| author_facet | Claudio Farina Eleonora Cacciabue Franca Averara Nadia Ferri Francesca Vailati Gabriele Del Castillo Antonello Serafini Beatrice Fermi Nicola Doniselli Fabio Pezzoli |
| author_sort | Claudio Farina |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <i>Legionella</i> contamination control is crucial in healthcare settings where patients suffer an increased risk of disease and fatal outcome. To ensure an effective management of this health hazard, the accurate application of a hospital-specific Water Safety Plan (WSP), the choice of a suitable water disinfection system and an extensive monitoring program are required. Here, the ten-year experience of an Italian hospital is reported: since its commissioning, Legionellosis risk management has been entrusted to a multi-disciplinary Working Group, applying the principles of the World Health Organization’s WSP. The disinfection strategy to prevent <i>Legionella</i> and other waterborne pathogens relies on the treatment of domestic hot water with a system ensuring the in situ production and dosage of monochloramine. An average of 250 samples/year were collected and analyzed to allow an accurate assessment of the microbiological status of water network. With the aim of increasing the monitoring sensitivity, in addition to the standard culture method, an optimized MALDI-ToF MS-based strategy was applied, allowing the identification of <i>Legionella</i> species and other relevant opportunistic pathogens. Data collected so far confirmed the effectiveness of this multidisciplinary approach: the fraction of positive samples never overcame 1% on a yearly basis and Legionnaires’ Disease cases never occurred. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T00:49:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fd9a43ec2e7745c6bec14e4680870e49 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2607 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T00:49:26Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Microorganisms |
| spelling | doaj.art-fd9a43ec2e7745c6bec14e4680870e492023-11-18T20:36:32ZengMDPI AGMicroorganisms2076-26072023-07-01117179410.3390/microorganisms11071794Water Safety Plan, Monochloramine Disinfection and Extensive Environmental Sampling Effectively Control <i>Legionella</i> and Other Waterborne Pathogens in Nosocomial Settings: The Ten-Year Experience of an Italian HospitalClaudio Farina0Eleonora Cacciabue1Franca Averara2Nadia Ferri3Francesca Vailati4Gabriele Del Castillo5Antonello Serafini6Beatrice Fermi7Nicola Doniselli8Fabio Pezzoli9Microbiology and Virology Laboratory, ASST “Papa Giovanni XXIII”, 24127 Bergamo, ItalyHealth Care Coordination Offices, ASST “Papa Giovanni XXIII”, 24127 Bergamo, ItalyDepartment of Health Care Professions, ASST “Papa Giovanni XXIII”, 24127 Bergamo, ItalyMicrobiology and Virology Laboratory, ASST “Papa Giovanni XXIII”, 24127 Bergamo, ItalyMicrobiology and Virology Laboratory, ASST “Papa Giovanni XXIII”, 24127 Bergamo, ItalyHealth Care Coordination Offices, ASST “Papa Giovanni XXIII”, 24127 Bergamo, ItalyTechnical Services, ASST “Papa Giovanni XXIII”, 24127 Bergamo, ItalySanipur S.p.A., 25020 Flero, ItalySanipur S.p.A., 25020 Flero, ItalyHealth Care Coordination Offices, ASST “Papa Giovanni XXIII”, 24127 Bergamo, Italy<i>Legionella</i> contamination control is crucial in healthcare settings where patients suffer an increased risk of disease and fatal outcome. To ensure an effective management of this health hazard, the accurate application of a hospital-specific Water Safety Plan (WSP), the choice of a suitable water disinfection system and an extensive monitoring program are required. Here, the ten-year experience of an Italian hospital is reported: since its commissioning, Legionellosis risk management has been entrusted to a multi-disciplinary Working Group, applying the principles of the World Health Organization’s WSP. The disinfection strategy to prevent <i>Legionella</i> and other waterborne pathogens relies on the treatment of domestic hot water with a system ensuring the in situ production and dosage of monochloramine. An average of 250 samples/year were collected and analyzed to allow an accurate assessment of the microbiological status of water network. With the aim of increasing the monitoring sensitivity, in addition to the standard culture method, an optimized MALDI-ToF MS-based strategy was applied, allowing the identification of <i>Legionella</i> species and other relevant opportunistic pathogens. Data collected so far confirmed the effectiveness of this multidisciplinary approach: the fraction of positive samples never overcame 1% on a yearly basis and Legionnaires’ Disease cases never occurred.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/11/7/1794<i>Legionella</i>Water Safety Planmonochloraminewaterborne pathogensprevention |
| spellingShingle | Claudio Farina Eleonora Cacciabue Franca Averara Nadia Ferri Francesca Vailati Gabriele Del Castillo Antonello Serafini Beatrice Fermi Nicola Doniselli Fabio Pezzoli Water Safety Plan, Monochloramine Disinfection and Extensive Environmental Sampling Effectively Control <i>Legionella</i> and Other Waterborne Pathogens in Nosocomial Settings: The Ten-Year Experience of an Italian Hospital Microorganisms <i>Legionella</i> Water Safety Plan monochloramine waterborne pathogens prevention |
| title | Water Safety Plan, Monochloramine Disinfection and Extensive Environmental Sampling Effectively Control <i>Legionella</i> and Other Waterborne Pathogens in Nosocomial Settings: The Ten-Year Experience of an Italian Hospital |
| title_full | Water Safety Plan, Monochloramine Disinfection and Extensive Environmental Sampling Effectively Control <i>Legionella</i> and Other Waterborne Pathogens in Nosocomial Settings: The Ten-Year Experience of an Italian Hospital |
| title_fullStr | Water Safety Plan, Monochloramine Disinfection and Extensive Environmental Sampling Effectively Control <i>Legionella</i> and Other Waterborne Pathogens in Nosocomial Settings: The Ten-Year Experience of an Italian Hospital |
| title_full_unstemmed | Water Safety Plan, Monochloramine Disinfection and Extensive Environmental Sampling Effectively Control <i>Legionella</i> and Other Waterborne Pathogens in Nosocomial Settings: The Ten-Year Experience of an Italian Hospital |
| title_short | Water Safety Plan, Monochloramine Disinfection and Extensive Environmental Sampling Effectively Control <i>Legionella</i> and Other Waterborne Pathogens in Nosocomial Settings: The Ten-Year Experience of an Italian Hospital |
| title_sort | water safety plan monochloramine disinfection and extensive environmental sampling effectively control i legionella i and other waterborne pathogens in nosocomial settings the ten year experience of an italian hospital |
| topic | <i>Legionella</i> Water Safety Plan monochloramine waterborne pathogens prevention |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/11/7/1794 |
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