Legionella pneumophila found in windscreen washer fluid without added screenwash

摘要

A paper by Wallensten et al. [1] identified an epidemio-logical association between Legionnaires' disease cases and the absence of screenwash in windscreen washer fluid and a follow up pilot study had identified Legionella species in one vehicle. The research extrapolated that as many as 20 % of sporadic community acquired cases may be attributed to this exposure and prevention by the use of screenwash could be readily achieved and could theoretically prevent 50 United Kingdom (UK) cases each year. However, Legionella pneumophila has never been grown from windscreen washer fluid and it is not known whether or not screenwash inhibits or prevents growth of Legionella. We undertook an open cross-sectional study aiming to investigate whether L. pneumophila can be detected in vehicle windscreen washer fluid reservoirs and to establish whether or not the addition of screenwash can inhibit the growth of L. pneumophila and at what concentration.