Ubiquitousness of Legionella pneumophila in the Water Supply of a Hospital with Endemic Legionnaires' Disease

SINCE 1977 there have been numerous outbreaks of nosocomial Legionnaires' disease; however, in only one was a reservoir established for Legionella pneumophila. Dondero and his colleagues have suggested that the organisms were spread from a contaminated cooling tower adjacent to a hospital with 39 cases of Legionnaires' disease. 1 L. pneumophila has also been isolated from showerheads and mixing valves of hospitals in the United States and England. 2 , 3 The two largest sustained outbreaks of nosocomial Legionnaires' disease have been at the Wadsworth Veterans Administration Hospital in Los Angeles and here at the Pittsburgh Veterans Administration Medical Center. 4 , 5 Although a definitive epidemiologic . . .