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Since 1976, species of
Legionella
genus have been reported as important
agents causative of pneumonia. The World Health Organization and
several researchers indicate that water is the main reservoir for
Legionella
(
Legionella
spp) species, which can be found anywhere in the world in
different environments, either natural or not, such as: lakes; dams; cooling
towers; evaporative condensers; air conditioning systems, decorative
fountains, swimming pools, showers and faucets. From the point of view of
public health, the most disturbing places where the microorganism can be
found are: the storage and distribution systems of potable water in hotels,
industries, ships, residences and hospitals, besides of misting devices
(Rowbotham, 1980, Fliermans
et al
., 1981, WHO, 2002, 2007, 2011, Sabria
and Yu, 2002, AWT, 2003, Leoni
et al
., 2005 and Dupuy
et al
., 2011).
In water distribution systems of hospitals the existence of these
microorganisms was proved in 12% to 70% of the collected samples (Lin
et
al
., 1998). The high incidence of the microorganism in hospitals was also
verified by Plouffe
et al
. (1983), where 50 to 86% of the samples of collected
water showed positive results for
Legionella
. Leoni
et al
. (2005) verified the
high incidence of
Legionella pneumophila
in residences, hotels and hospitals,
as the bacteriumwas present in 93.7% of the collected samples in hospitals, in
60.9% of the samples collected in hotels and in 41.9% of the samples coming
from apartments with water central heating system. In the case of apartments
with individual heating water system only 3.6% of the collected samples
presented positive results for
Legionella
ssp with no evidence of the presence
of
Legionella pneumophila
. Still regarding the residential heating system,
Burak and Zeybek (2011) noted the absence of
Legionella pneumophila
in
independent heating systems, but in 72% of the central heating systems it was
showed the presence of
Legionella pneumophila
.
