{"id":37,"date":"2024-08-21T17:48:08","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T17:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/legionella\/?page_id=37"},"modified":"2024-09-18T13:52:52","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T13:52:52","slug":"information-for-consumers-and-building-owners","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/legionella\/information-for-consumers-and-building-owners\/","title":{"rendered":"Information for Consumers and Building Owners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Legionellosis is caused by bacteria called\u00a0<em>Legionella<\/em>. The disease has two different forms. Legionnaires\u2019 disease is the more severe form of infection that causes pneumonia. Pontiac fever is caused by the same bacteria but is a milder illness without pneumonia.\u00a0 For more information on Legionellosis, see the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/epidemiology\/epidemiology-fact-sheets\/legionellosis\/\">Legionellosis Fact Sheet<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The CDC has identified the following key factors internal to buildings that can lead to\u00a0<em>Legionella<\/em>\u00a0growth:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Inadequate disinfectant:<\/strong>\u00a0does not kill or inactivate\u00a0<em>Legionella.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Water stagnation:<\/strong>\u00a0Encourages biofilm growth, allows hot water to cool and cold water to warm, and reduces the level of disinfectant.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Water temperature:<\/strong>\u00a0Provide conditions where\u00a0<em>Legionella<\/em>\u00a0grows best (77\u00b0 F \u2013 108\u00b0F)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Biofilm:<\/strong>\u00a0Protects\u00a0<em>Legionella<\/em>\u00a0from heat and disinfectant; provides food and shelter to germs; grows on any surface that is constantly moist.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Scale and sediment:<\/strong>\u00a0Uses up disinfectant and creates a protected home for\u00a0<em>Legionella<\/em>\u00a0and other germs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The CDC outlines the following general activities:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Identify building water system for which\u00a0<em>Legionella<\/em>\u00a0control measures are needed.<\/li>\n<li>Assess how much risk the conditions in those water systems pose.<\/li>\n<li>Apply control measures to reduce the conditions, whenever possible, to prevent\u00a0<em>Legionella\u00a0<\/em>growth and spread.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure the program is running as designed and is effective.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Please note that if on-site treatment is needed to reduce the growth and spread of\u00a0<em>Legionella<\/em>\u00a0in a building, this may result in the owner being subject to the Commonwealth of Virginia\u00a0<em>Waterworks Regulations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>If you are a building owner considering the installation of on-site treatment, please contact\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/drinking-water\/contact-us\/\">your ODW field office<\/a>\u00a0for more information.<\/p>\n<p>Further information on the control of\u00a0<em>Legionella<\/em>\u00a0for building owners can be found at the following links:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/sites\/production\/files\/2016-09\/documents\/legionella_document_master_september_2016_final.pdf\">EPA Technologies for\u00a0<em>Legionella<\/em>\u00a0Control in Premise Plumbing Systems: Scientific Literature Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.awt.org\/pub\/c7cbed54-b275-c6ff-32a7-767bdf750128\"><em>The Analyst<\/em>, The Association of Water Technologies\u00a0(2013) \u2013 CDC Procedure for Cleaning Towers Infected with\u00a0<em>Legionella<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nsf.org\/consulting\/water\/building-water-health\">NSF Building Water Health<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Requirements for implementing control of\u00a0<em>Legionella<\/em>\u00a0have been published as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cms.gov\/Medicare\/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification\/SurveyCertificationGenInfo\/Downloads\/Survey-and-Cert-Letter-17-30.pdf\">Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services Memo 17-30 revised 06.09.2017<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Legionellosis is caused by bacteria called\u00a0Legionella. The disease has two different forms. Legionnaires\u2019 disease is the more severe form of infection that causes pneumonia. Pontiac fever is caused by the same bacteria but is a milder illness without pneumonia.\u00a0 For more information on Legionellosis, see the Legionellosis Fact Sheet. The CDC has identified the following [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":596,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Information for Consumers and Building Owners - Legionella<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/legionella\/information-for-consumers-and-building-owners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Information for Consumers and Building Owners - Legionella\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Legionellosis is caused by bacteria called\u00a0Legionella. The disease has two different forms. Legionnaires\u2019 disease is the more severe form of infection that causes pneumonia. Pontiac fever is caused by the same bacteria but is a milder illness without pneumonia.\u00a0 For more information on Legionellosis, see the Legionellosis Fact Sheet. The CDC has identified the following [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/legionella\/information-for-consumers-and-building-owners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Legionella\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-18T13:52:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/legionella\\\/information-for-consumers-and-building-owners\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/legionella\\\/information-for-consumers-and-building-owners\\\/\",\"name\":\"Information for Consumers and Building Owners - Legionella\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/legionella\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-08-21T17:48:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-18T13:52:52+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/legionella\\\/information-for-consumers-and-building-owners\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/legionella\\\/information-for-consumers-and-building-owners\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/legionella\\\/information-for-consumers-and-building-owners\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/legionella\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Information for Consumers and Building Owners\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/legionella\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/legionella\\\/\",\"name\":\"Legionella\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/legionella\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Information for Consumers and Building Owners - Legionella","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/legionella\/information-for-consumers-and-building-owners\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Information for Consumers and Building Owners - Legionella","og_description":"Legionellosis is caused by bacteria called\u00a0Legionella. The disease has two different forms. Legionnaires\u2019 disease is the more severe form of infection that causes pneumonia. Pontiac fever is caused by the same bacteria but is a milder illness without pneumonia.\u00a0 For more information on Legionellosis, see the Legionellosis Fact Sheet. 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