Review

Potentially pathogenic amoeba-associated microorganisms in cooling towers and their control

Unité de recherche sur les maladies infectieuses et tropicales émergentes (URMITE) CNRS UMR 6236, Faculté de Médecine de Marseille, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France.

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Email the corresponding author at isabellepagnier@hotmail.com

Michèle Merchat

Climespace, 185 rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, France.

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Email the corresponding author at michele.merchat@climespace.fr

Bernard La Scola

† Author for correspondence

Unité de Recherche Sur Les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Émergentes (URMITE) CNRS UMR 6236, Faculté de Médecine de Marseille, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France.

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Email the corresponding author at bernard.lascola@univmed.fr

Published Online:4 Jun 2009https://doi.org/10.2217/fmb.09.25

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Abstract

Cooling towers provide a favorable environment for the proliferation of microorganisms. Cooling towers generate a biofilm and often aerosolize contaminated water, thereby increasing the risk of microorganism dissemination by human inhalation. This pathogen dissemination was first revealed by the epidemics of Legionnaires’ disease that were directly related to the presence of cooling towers, and since then, the ecology of Legionella pneumophila has been well studied. Each country has specific standards regarding the acceptable amount of microorganisms in cooling tower systems. However, those standards typically only concern L. pneumophila, even though many other microorganisms can also be isolated from cooling towers, including protozoa, bacteria and viruses. Microbiological control of the cooling tower system can be principally achieved by chemical treatments and also by improving the system’s construction. Several new treatments are being studied to improve the efficiency of disinfection. However, as most of these treatments continue to focus solely on L. pneumophila, reports of other types of pathogens continue to increase. Therefore, how their dissemination affects the human populous health should be addressed now.

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Vol. 4, No. 5

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Published online 4 June 2009

Published in print June 2009

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Financial & competing interests disclosure

M Merchat is employed by Climespace, a society involved in cold production and exploiting cooling towers. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

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