308
Hence, some recommendations are outlined for preventing the
Legionnaires’ disease:
- choice of industrial plants or homes in order to foresee that there
is no possibility of standing water occurring in conditions conducive for
Legionella
bacteria to proliferate;
- constant water verification in public and private reservoirs (search for
the bacterium);
- special monitoring in hotels and hospitals, considering devices and
equipment used in them;
- research made by physicians using tests to identify whether the
pneumonia to be treated comes from contamination of
Legionella
bacteria;
- inclusion of
Legionella
bacteria as mandatory notification disease;
- correct and accessible information on the Legionnaires’ disease on
official internet websites, which is currently nonexistent. It is verified that
there is no mention to Legionellosis or to the Legionnaires’ disease in
ANVISA’s website, even referring to travelers’ issue, as there is in Europe.
- creation of a practice code and a guide for controlling
Legionella
in
aquatic systems, as there is in the United Kingdom.
17
- record of cooling towers in the acclimation system before the local
authority, as it happens in England
18
, once it was scientifically proven that
many
Legionella
outbreaks were caused by that source, as the bacterium-
containing aerosol can be spread in the atmosphere and it can travel through
500-meter distances.
19
- creation of a questionnaire in order to verify the diagnosis accurately
when dealing with Legionnaires’ disease acquired in a travel.
20
