[Inspection on Legionella pollution and the health impact of workers in public places of central air conditioning systems in Dalian City].
OBJECTIVE
To inspect the conditions of Legionella pollution in cooling towers of central air conditioning systems and the state of Legionella potential infection of workers in public places in Dalian City in order to study the impact factors related witb Legiondlla organism infection.


METHODS
From August to September 2005, water sample of 32 cooling towers were randomly collected. Legionella organism in water samples were detected. The blood samples were randomly collected from workers in public places of central air conditioning systems. The micro agglutination test was used for detecting the Legionella antibodies in blood samples.


RESULTS
53.13% of the cooling towers were positive with Legionella pneumophila (Up) serogroup 7, 8, 9 and 10, of which, Lp9 isolates were predominant by 77.78% (N=28). The testing results of Legionella 'antibodies showed that the antibody levels of Legionella were the highest. The results implied there were potential infection of workers in public places of central air conditioning systems.


CONCLUSIONS
Legionella pollution exist in cooling towers and the Legionella potential infection were found in workers in public places of central air conditioning systems in Dalian City.
Jiang
Hongmei
H
Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Dalian, Dalian 116021, China.
Shao
Zhujun
Z
Li
Jiamning
J
Zou
Mei
M
D000328:Adult; D000389:Air Conditioning / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016952:Legionella pneumophila / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007877:Legionnaires' Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial