WRITTEN QUESTION P-2368/99

by Jules Maaten (ELDR) to the Commission

(1 December 1999)

Subject: Legionella bacterium

1. Is the Commission aware of the renewed outbreaks of pneumonia and Pontiac fever caused by the legionella bacterium, better known as legionnaire's disease (for example during the West Friesland Flora event in Bovenkarspel in late February and at a trade fair in Kapellen, Belgium, from 29 October to 7 November)?

2. Does the Commission have any information to suggest that these outbreaks could have been prevented, or at least significantly reduced, if there had been obligatory inspections of the water at places which may be related to the outbreak, for example whirlpools, air-conditioning and hot water systems?

3. Does the Commission think that such inspections should be made compulsory for trade fairs and similar events involving large numbers of people?

4. Does the Commission intend to initiate cross-border cooperation in the field of information exchange in respect of legionnaire's disease and any similar bacterial diseases?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(16 December 1999)

1. The Commission was made aware of the recent outbreaks of legionnaires' disease in the Netherlands and in Belgium by the Member States' authorities through the early warning and response system set up under Parliament and Council Decision No 2119/98/EC of 24 September 1998 setting up a network for the epidemiological surveillance and control of communicable diseases in the Community(1).

2. Prevention measures necessary to minimise risks need to extend beyond the inspection of the water which usually, for practical reasons, cannot be performed often enough to be an efficient preventive tool

by itself. Thus, the prevention of outbreaks of the kind reported, should be based on a number of measures attempting to minimise the various risk factors involved (e.g. inappropriate water quality, closed water systems, water temperatures, insufficient decontamination systems).

3. These two recent outbreaks have highlighted a new area of risk for acquiring legionnaires' disease, namely national and international trade fairs where the public is exposed to whirlpools and other equipment from which legionella could be spread. The Commission is therefore, together with technical experts in Member States, assessing the need for Community health and safety rules or guidelines for the control of legionnaires' disease to protect the public in these kind of premises. It is too early to say whether the conclusion of the assessment will point to inspection of water or focus entirely on other more efficient control measures.

4. Transnational co-operation in the field of legionella infections is already well developed. The specific network dealing with legionnaires' disease (European working group for legionella infections (EWGLI)) in fact predates Decision 2119/98/EC and the Commission has supported its activities since 1986. This surveillance scheme presently involves 31 participating countries and the scheme aims to collect information on cases of legionnaires' disease occurring in travellers so that sites associated with more than one case can be detected and the authorities in the relevant country informed. Recently the reporting of non-travel associated clusters of cases was included in this scheme mainly as a response to the outbreak in the Netherlands earlier this year. All cases reported to EWGLI are reported back to the country of infection and all other collaborators. These procedures have led to the rapid identification of outbreaks, and early intervention of control and prevention measures and this system is now included as a disease specific network in the Community network for the epidemiological surveillance and control of communicable diseases.

(1) OJ L 268, 3.10.1998.