Guidance

Legionnaires' disease: investigation of household water systems

Guidance for health protection teams on when to sample a household for legionella.

• From: UK Health Security Agency
• Published: 10 March 2016
• Last updated: 2 October 2020
  Show all updates

  1. 2 October 2020

     Added information about widening the scope of sampling.

  2. 28 December 2016

     New guidance document for on investigation of water systems has been uploaded.

  3. 10 March 2016

     First published.

Documents

The investigation of household water systems in cases of Legionnaires’ disease: Guidance for health protection teams

Ref: PHE publications gateway number 2015667

PDF, 401 KB, 14 pages

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Details

This content was originally produced by Public Health England (PHE). This content is now owned and managed by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

This document can assist local health protection teams (HPTs), working with environmental health departments, in the investigation of household water systems following a case of Legionnaires’ disease.

During 2020, it has been recommended that HPTs in England consider a wider scope for household water system sampling beyond the existing recommendations. Environmental sampling of relevant water systems is now encouraged for all reference laboratory-confirmed cases, regardless of whether a respiratory specimen is available.