- Not cleaning hot tubs and showers can cause Legionnaires’ disease
- The life-threatening bacteria has symptoms similar to pneumonia
Summer revelers were today reminded of a serious bacterial infection that can lurk in hot tubs.
Legionnaires’ disease, which can cause life-threatening pneumonia, can also be spread through air conditioners, faucets and showers.
Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at the University of Reading, said the Legionella bacteria responsible can be found in almost “everything”.
This includes “sophisticated plumbing, showers, hot tubs and decorative fountains,” he added.
Dr Clarke told MailOnline: ‘It has even been found in car wash bottles filled with tap water instead of windscreen washer.
“Complex climate systems can sometimes become contaminated.
“But the types of air conditioners you find in cars and at home don’t use water, so they’re not a problem.”
Legionella usually thrives in large buildings – such as hotels and office blocks – where it grows in the water supply.
This is especially a problem in warm climates, where heat helps it reproduce.
Swimming pools and dirty air conditioners are common sites of contamination because they can accumulate warm, stagnant water that disperses as droplets into the air, which are then inhaled.
But bacteria that occur naturally in fresh water can also linger in showers and faucets that haven’t been used for several days.
That’s why some experts urge vacationers to turn on faucets and showers before coming in contact with the water.
Around half of the 300 Britons who contract legionella each year get it abroad.
Once the infection is diagnosed, doctors call the condition Legionnaires’ disease.
Symptoms include coughing, difficulty breathing and chest pain.
The average death rate is about one in ten. But among those with weakened immune systems, such as patients with rheumatoid arthritis or kidney failure, it can be as high as 30 percent.
Health and safety guidelines say that hot water supplies should be kept at a minimum of 50C as the bug cannot survive at this heat.
Likewise, cold water must be below 20C to stop bacteria from growing.
At home, you can reduce your risk of Legionnaires’ disease by removing any build-up around shower heads, as this can hold water, says Asthma and Lung UK.
The charity adds that if you have showers or taps that you haven’t used recently, you should flush them under running water for five minutes every two weeks.
If you own a hot tub or home spa, it’s also important to regularly drain, clean, and disinfect it.
Although anyone can develop Legionnaires’ disease and the infection is not unheard of in the UK, Dr Clarke says it is not something people need to “worry about every day”.
But some people are at higher risk of infection.
People over the age of 45, smokers and ex-smokers, those with lung disease, drug or alcohol addiction, people with compromised immune systems or chronic long-term health conditions such as diabetes or kidney failure are at higher risk of the disease, according to asthma and lungs uk.