Integrated management of Legionella risk in cooling towers by rapid detection, innovative treatment and prevention of transmission

通过快速检测、创新治疗和预防传播，对冷却塔中的军团菌风险进行综合管理

• 批准号: 545363-2019
• 负责人: Prévost, MichèleM
• 金额: $ 17.04万
• 依托单位: École Polytechnique de Montréal
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Alliance Grants
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=754641
• 关键词: Integrated; management; Legionella; risk; cooling

Legionnaires' disease is a severe pneumonia caused by Legionella pneumophila (Lp). Cooling towers are the main source of L. pneumophila during large outbreaks. Recent deadly outbreaks have forced government to introduce regulations to improve monitoring and management of cooling towers. In spite of this action, the number of cases has continued to increase. It is currently unclear what are the best detection methods and management strategies to reduce the risk of Legionnaires' disease. The main objective of the proposed research project is to identify and validate cost effective control strategies for each step of cooling towers' life cycle (design, start-up, operation, wintering) in order to limit growth of L. pneumophila and reduce the risk of exposure while reducing the costs and environmental impacts. A combination of data mining, laboratory, bench-scale and industrial investigations in collaboration with key public and private partners will identify monitoring and treatment solutions that strike a balance between the economic burden on the cooling tower owners and the risk to public health. The relationship between the levels of Legionella spp. and L. pneumophila and the other microorganisms present together with the water characteristics will also be studied. Model systems will be used to study the efficiency of different chemical treatments and novel biological strategies to control L. pneumophila in the water and in the biofilm. The new insight on why and how a treatment is efficient will ensure a cost-effective and sustainable control of the risk of legionellosis from cooling towers. The potential health benefits of various control solutions will then be evaluated using a risk analysis and weighted against their cost and feasibility. A dependable strategy to design, monitor, operate, and treat cooling towers aimed to minimize the public health risk, the environmental impact and the cost will be proposed based on the results from this research.

军团病是由嗜肺军团菌 (Lp) 引起的严重肺炎。冷却塔是大规模疫情期间嗜肺军团菌的主要来源。最近致命的疫情爆发迫使政府出台法规来改善冷却塔的监控和管理。尽管采取了这一行动，案件数量仍在继续增加。目前尚不清楚降低军团病风险的最佳检测方法和管理策略是什么。拟议研究项目的主要目标是确定和验证冷却塔生命周期每个步骤（设计、启动、运行、越冬）的成本有效的控制策略，以限制嗜肺军团菌的生长并降低风险减少暴露，同时降低成本和环境影响。与主要公共和私人合作伙伴合作，将数据挖掘、实验室、试验规模和工业调查相结合，将确定监测和处理解决方案，在冷却塔所有者的经济负担和公众健康风险之间取得平衡。军团菌水平之间的关系。嗜肺军团菌和其他与水特性一起存在的微生物也将被研究。模型系统将用于研究不同化学处理和新颖生物策略的效率，以控制水中和生物膜中的嗜肺军团菌。关于治疗为何以及如何有效的新见解将确保对冷却塔引起的军团病风险进行经济有效且可持续的控制。然后，将使用风险分析来评估各种控制解决方案的潜在健康益处，并根据其成本和可行性进行权衡。 根据这项研究的结果，将提出一种可靠的冷却塔设计、监测、运行和处理策略，旨在最大限度地减少公共卫生风险、环境影响和成本。