Abstract
Regular monitoring and measurement of Legionella in tower water and preventive measures against contamination are particularly important in hospitals. This study aimed at risk assessment and disease burden because of legionella presence in cooling towers of Iran’s central hospitals. Then its correlation with temperature, pH, turbidity, residual chlorine, and EC was investigated by the Pearson test. The health risk and burden of diseases caused by Legionella exposure were determined using QMRA and DALY models. Statistical analysis and modeling were performed in MATLAB2018. Of the total samples, 30–43% was infected with Legionella. The mean concentrations in hospital A and B were 5–102.5 ± 10 and 5–89.7 ± 0.7 CFU/L, respectively. Among environmental factors, turbidity and pH were the most effective factors in increasing and decreasing Legionella concentration, respectively. According to the QMRA model, the risks of Legionella infections and annual mortality in both hospitals were 0.2–0.3, 0–0.19, 2–2.9 × 10−5, and 0–0.7 × 10−5, respectively, which was higher than the acceptable risk range for Legionella (10-4–10-7). However, the trend of its change was negatively correlated with time (RB = − 0.77). According to the results, the concentration of Legionella and the exposure risk in both hospitals were higher than the permissible range, which is necessary to decrease to 0.1 current concentrations.
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Acknowledgments
This study was conducted with the approval of the Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Medical Ethics Committee. Code: IR.SSU.SPH.REC.1398.021. Thanks are owed to the Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Abarkouh Paramedical School, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, for their help in conducting this study.
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Jalili, M., Ehrampoush, M.H., Zandi, H. et al. Risk assessment and disease burden of legionella presence in cooling towers of Iran’s central hospitals. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 65945–65951 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14791-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14791-9