[Legionella--a problem of technology?].

Protecting the health of the population is one of the main tasks faced by Public Health Offices; this will also be of fundamental importance for the future. To meet this challenge, this task must be dealt with in a qualified way. One example to demonstrate this is the comprehensive legionella screening conducted in all of the City of Düsseldorf's old age peoples' nursing homes and hospitals. In 65% of the 82 systems examined, there was positive proof of legionella occurrence, while in 59% a systematic legionella contamination was found to exist. Basing a figure of 10 KBE/ml as being relevant for causing infections, a total of 60 samples out of 323 samples taken remained to be positive, indicating a rate of 19.5%. Parts of areas of particular relevance for infection, such as intensive health care wards, also showed figures exceeding 10,000 KBE/ml. To cope with the task on hand, not only measuring procedures are being called for, but also examining the systems, working hand in hand with the plumber and the engineer. This applies both to prophylaxis and performing the required sanitation.