Legionnaires' Disease Experts Call for Proactive Approach to Legionnaires' Disease Prevention in MD

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires' Disease (ALPD) urges city officials in Baltimore and state and federal officials to take more proactive steps to address Legionnaires' as a water quality issue to prevent disease.

Over the last several months, legionella, the bacteria which causes Legionnaires' disease has been found in several federal and state government buildings in Baltimore, was recently identified in Spring Grove Hospital in Catonsville, and a positive case announced at a prison in Jessup. Rather than continuing to take a wait-and-see approach to where the bacteria will turn up next, Maryland officials should put policies in place to prevent this disease, which can be deadly for one in ten who contract it.

"The best way to protect people from Legionnaires' Disease is to properly treat Legionnaires' as the water quality issue it is," said Dr. Hung Cheung, Founder & President of Cogency located in Maryland and an ALPD Board member. "States should take a proactive approach to Legionnaires' prevention by ensuring that water is properly managed from its source to treatment plant and through the water distribution system to prevent the infection of our buildings and homes with this bacteria and other waterborne pathogens."

Maryland can look to the recently enacted law in New Jersey which created a source-to-tap policy for effective water management to prevent Legionnaires'. Specifically, source-to-tap management includes:

• Maintaining an adequate disinfectant residual at all points in the public water distribution system
• Monitoring water quality throughout the public drinking water supply and distribution system
• Notifying water consumers of distribution system conditions or events that may lead to increased risk, especially for susceptible populations
• Thoroughly investigating all cases of Legionnaires' since the vast majority of cases (96%) are single or sporadic (not tied to an outbreak)
• Positively identify the source of legionella bacteria after investigating all cases
• Managing building water systems according to best practices with ASHRAE Standard 188

"States like Maryland must take a pro-active approach and this is especially true in the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern parts of the US which are home to the oldest water systems in the country," Dr. Cheung said. "If we want to truly reduce incidence of Legionnaires' Disease, then we need to focus on prevention efforts to include the water supply and the system delivering water to our homes and offices for human use."

Legionnaires' disease cases reported to the CDC total more than 8,000 people annually and other estimates are much greater, with individual cases comprising 96% and outbreaks of two or more totaling 4%. On average Maryland has a couple hundred reported cases of Legionnaires' disease per year which can be prevented by addressing it as a water quality issue and enacting source-to-tap policies to address it.

For more information on Legionnaires' Disease and the Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires' Disease, visit the Alliance's website: https://preventlegionnaires.org/.

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SOURCE Prevent Legionnaires'