Occupational exposure to high-pressure hoses was likely culprit
by MedPage Today Staff October 11, 2017
A Spanish man may have contracted Legionnaires’ disease from exposure to street cleaning trucks, researchers found.
Writing in Emerging Infectious Diseases, the authors detailed the case of a 58-year-old man diagnosed with Legionnaire’s disease, whose only exposure to aerosolized water was through “occupational exposure to high-pressure hoses from street cleaning trucks.” The researchers took samples from the four trucks used prior to symptom onset and found Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 in both the water and internal foam of two of the trucks.
Following detection of Legionella, the authors said the internal foam was removed and the trucks were disinfected, and workers are now required to wear personal protective equipment during “work-related exposure.”