Legionnaires’ disease is a rare but serious disease caused by legionella bacteria. It’s a form of pneumonia that can be fatal. Anyone can get the infection although the risk increases with age and some other factors such as:
The bacteria is commonly found in natural water sources, like rivers and ponds, although people don’t usually catch it from those sources as the conditions often aren’t right for the disease to develop. Illness is normally due to the bacteria growing in purpose-built water systems, like air-conditioning units, cooling towers and spa pools. People can catch the disease by inhaling small droplets of water suspended in the air, which contain the bacteria.
As legionella is a naturally occurring bacteria, it is often found in water. It must be stressed that water coming into your house, even if it contains legionella, is safe to drink.
The symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease are similar to those of flu e.g. high temperature, fever, cough and muscle pains.
Radian employs specialist contractors to carry out our legal obligations to manage our water for communal water systems. We follow the approved code of practice and monitor all of these properties monthly except those deemed to be of low risk, namely our domestic self-contained general needs properties.
The risk to self-contained homes is very low due to the water in the property being used quickly, but there are a few steps that can be taken by the householder to reduce the risk further…
If you have any further queries, please contact Radian Technical Services on 0300 123 1 567.