Windscreen wiper water may be the cause of a fifth of cases of Legionnaires' Disease in England and Wales, according to the Health Protection Agency.
Legionnaires' Disease is a rare but potentially deadly condition which is caused when the Legionella bacterium is inhaled and causes pneumonia. Stagnant, warm water is the ideal breeding ground for the disease.
The discovery was found after records showed that professional drivers are five times more likely to be infected by the disease.
The Health Protection Agency says that adding screenwash kills the Legionella bacteria.
"This is a bug which lives in the environment and will take advantage of warm water systems that are not cleaned out," said Professor Hugh Pennington, an expert in bacteriology.
"Legionnaires' is rare but it kills people and it's an extremely unpleasant disease. If you can prevent it with something this simple then it's a no brainer really."
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Re: Wiper water linked to disease
Re: Wiper water linked to disease
The legionella risk associated with air conditioning systems, arises from the water coolers/evaporators which the systems on buildings use. Automotive aircon operates on a different principle so there are not water towers and resviors in which legionella can breed.
It would be interesting to see how the research considered the risk factor that many professional drivers also smoke. Smoking is a contributory factor to being affected by legionella.
Re: Wiper water linked to disease
Here's the link to the full research, I'm ploughing through it now ! (Been reading Bad Science by Ben Goldacre, so I'm loving all this stuff at the mo.)
http://www.springerlink.com/content/t92532v54003150g/?p=d75c20f288574b48...