3.5% of Hospitals and Bathhouses in Gyeonggi-do Exceed Legionella Bacteria Standards

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The Gyeonggi-do Institute of Health and Environment announced on the 9th that, as a result of inspecting the contamination status of Legionella bacteria, which cause infectious diseases, in general hospitals and large public bathhouses in the province, Legionella bacteria exceeding the standard were detected in 95 cases, accounting for 13.5% of the total.

The Institute conducted Legionella bacteria tests on 706 samples of hot and cold water from 195 locations including general hospitals, large public bathhouses, nursing hospitals, large shopping centers, and hotels from June to December last year. As a result, Legionella bacteria exceeding the standard were found in 95 cases across 53 locations.

By facility type, the detected cases were ▲general hospitals 40 cases ▲large public bathhouses 23 cases ▲nursing hospitals 7 cases ▲hotels 6 cases ▲large shopping centers 6 cases ▲others 13 cases.

By sample type, there were 60 cases in hot water, 19 cases in cold water, 13 cases in cooling tower water, and 3 cases in water tanks. In one cooling tower water sample, Legionella bacteria exceeding the standard of 1000 (CFU/L) by more than 80 times were detected.

The province notified the city and county authorities of the test results and instructed multi-use facilities where Legionella bacteria were detected to conduct cleaning and disinfection, followed by retesting until no further bacteria are detected.

Legionellosis is a legally designated infectious disease of the third class caused by Legionella bacteria that proliferate in cooling tower water, large public bathhouse tubs, and other sources, invading the respiratory system. Symptoms upon infection may include headache, high fever, chills accompanied by pneumonia, and the fatality rate reaches 10% (30% in severe cases).

The number of Legionellosis patients in the province has been steadily occurring with 63 in 2018, 129 in 2019, 83 in 2020, and 79 in 2021.

Park Yong-bae, director of the Gyeonggi-do Institute of Health and Environment, said, "We conducted Legionella bacteria tests targeting multi-use facilities such as general hospitals, large public bathhouses, nursing hospitals, and large shopping centers, promptly took quarantine measures at detected facilities, and conducted retests." He emphasized, "Since residents have high concerns about infectious diseases in public places, we will regularly manage these facilities to prevent Legionellosis infections."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.