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

军团病是一种由嗜肺军团菌（Lp）引起的严重肺炎。冷却塔是L.在大规模疫情爆发期间。最近的致命疫情迫使政府出台法规，以改善冷却塔的监测和管理。尽管采取了这一行动，但案件数量继续增加。目前尚不清楚什么是降低军团病风险的最佳检测方法和管理策略。该研究项目的主要目标是确定和验证冷却塔生命周期（设计、启动、运行、越冬）每个步骤的成本效益控制策略，以限制L。减少接触的风险，同时降低成本和环境影响。与主要的公共和私营合作伙伴合作，将数据挖掘、实验室、小规模和工业调查相结合，以确定监测和处理解决方案，在冷却塔业主的经济负担和公共健康风险之间取得平衡。军团菌水平之间的关系。和L.此外，亦会研究嗜肺菌及其他微生物与水质的关系。模型系统将被用来研究不同的化学处理和新的生物策略来控制L。在水中和生物膜中的嗜肺菌。关于治疗为什么有效以及如何有效的新见解将确保对冷却塔的军团菌病风险进行具有成本效益和可持续的控制。然后将使用风险分析评估各种控制解决方案的潜在健康效益，并与其成本和可行性进行权衡。 根据本研究的结果，将提出一个可靠的策略，以设计，监测，操作和治疗冷却塔，旨在最大限度地减少公众健康风险，环境影响和成本。

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.