Community Legionella outbreak linked to a cooling tower, 2022

Thirty-five laboratory-confirmed legionellosis cases were reported to the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (Ontario, Canada) between September 27, 2022, and October 15, 2022, resulting in one death and 29 hospitalizations. This article describes the Legionella outbreak and highlights activities for managing the outbreak, including various environmental and infrastructural controls associated with the public health response and some of the unique challenges and potential solutions to mitigate future outbreaks.

All cases of legionellosis were reported to and investigated by the local provincial health unit. Within a 6 km radius around the community, 27 cooling towers (CTs) were identified as potential sources of Legionella. Environmental samples were collected from 19 CTs and a long-term care home.

Of the 35 cases, 29 (83%) were hospitalized (including three long-term care residents) with two requiring intubation/ventilation. Of the five sputa (clinical isolates) collected from confirmed cases, four tested positive for Legionella pneumophila (one was positive for L. pneumophila serogroup 1-with the same sequence type as one of the CT isolates). Education and recommendations were provided by the local provincial health unit to operators to improve CT operation.

Detection and management of community legionellosis outbreaks associated with CTs involve resources and time to properly identify and control risks. Measures for community risk mitigation included coordinating with provincial and community partners, developing methods to rapidly identify CTs as a likely source of infection and applying operational/maintenance/testing standards for CTs to control bacterial growth and minimize the dispersion of contaminated aerosols.