Should a water distribution system harboring Legionella anisa be disinfected?
The majority (>90%) of cases of Legionnaires’ disease reported in the U.S. are caused by Legionella pneumophila. L. anisa is frequently isolated from environmental specimens but almost never causes disease. L. anisa is generally nonpathogenic and disinfection is not necessarily indicated for this particular species (Yu VL, J Infect Chemother 2004). Im a medical student at Karolinska Institute in Sweden currently involved in a project about prevention of legionnaires disease, and I have found your website to be a valuable resource. Im writing about the use of free radicals in the elimination of legionella in water systems. Is this something you are planning on evaluating? The technique is very interesting and has been proven very efficient on the elimination of Legionella species – among others – in water systems. We are assuming you are speaking of the free radicals of oxygen obtained by disinfecting with ozone or hydrogen peroxide. We have not investigated hydrogen peroxide in our lab
