[The effect of the pipe material of the drinking water system on the frequency of Legionella in a hospital].

In this paper the prevalence of Legionella in water samples from cold and warm water supply systems made of copper, iron and polyethylene was determined. Water supplied by copper pipes revealed to be nearly free of Legionella (only 2% of probes positive), but water from iron (90%) or polyethylene pipes (65% probes positive) proved to be heavily contaminated. The 82 isolates were identified as Legionella pneumophila, one from serogroup 1, the others from serogroup 4.