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Introduction
Our idea of making this book has a long history with my knowledge
and familiarity with the Legionella bacteria in the last fifteen years of
my professional life. In 1999 I had already worked for over twenty one
years in the water treatment segment, when for the first time I discovered
the real story about this bacterium. Before I knew the truth, I had many
misconceptions, just as most people still have nowadays.
It is with the idealism of alerting about the dangers of Legionella that I
have dedicated myself for the last fifteen years. I’ve had the opportunity to
meet many others who also fight so that the risks of the Legionella disease
are studied and spread all over the world, and I have the pleasure to have
many of those people contributing in this book.
This is a milestone in my life (I work as a Legionella risk assessor since
1999). To receive the support and collaboration of great professionals
that have contributed for the content of this book is a great recognition
and for that, I thank everyone involved. I can’t fail to mention the ones
that were part of my work team in 2001: Isabelle Ricard Rochat, Cristiane
Francisco, Eduardo Dantas, Gustavo Graudenz, Ana Carolina Junqueira
Ribeiro Pereira, Pedro Pacheco, Sérgio Belleza e Marcelo Gurgel. In 2005
we attended the Sixth International Conference on Legionella - Chicago,
presenting the panel “Legionnaire’s Disease in Brazil : a Relevant Public
Health Issue?”. (I Ricard, M Gurgel, E Dantas, M D Bensoussan).
Another remarkable person in my journey was Dr. Mirian Gonçalves
Dilguerian, with the release of her book in 2010 “O MAL DOS
LEGIONÁRIOS: Diálogo entre o direito ambiental e o direito sanitário”,
which was a great achievement.
The goal of Legionella na Visão de Especialistas (Legionella in the vision
