Legionnaires’ Disease from Dental Waterline – First Reported Case

Doctors in Italy confirmed that an 82-year-old Italian woman died after she contracted Legionnaires' disease from the water at a dental practice, according to a case report published in the journal The Lancet. This case has prompted the authors - led by Dr Maria Luisa Ricci at the Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome, Italy, to call for various control measures at dental surgeries to prevent similar incidents.

Scientists who determined the source of the woman's illness, which occurred in February 2011, said the patient had been at home for the majority of the time during the incubation period of between 2 and 10 days, leaving only twice to attend dentist appointments.

Water samples tested positive

The investigators took water samples from the dental practice including the dental unit waterlines, and from the woman's home in order to identify possible sources of contamination. They found that samples from her home tested negative for L pneumophila, but samples from the dental unit waterlines tested positive.

First reported case

This is the thought to be first reported case of Legionnaires’ disease stemming from a dental waterline, despite the fact that it is known that the bacteria can affect waterlines.

Department of Health

While it was not clear what kind of water line standards were in place in Italy, in the UK, a spokesman for the Department of Health said: 'There have never been any cases of Legionnaire’s disease traced to contaminated dental surgery equipment in the UK, but we will continue to keep all evidence under review’.

'The Department of Health has thorough guidance on decontamination in primary dental care, requiring practices in England to comply with best practice guidance on controlling the risks from legionella and to carry out a risk assessment’