In the normal surveillance activities, ELDSNet detects many clusters of legionnaires‘ disease cases each year, at accommodation sites throughout Europe and beyond. A cluster consists of two or more cases of legionnaires’ disease who stayed at or visited the same accommodation site in the ten days before onset of illness and whose onset is within the same two - year period.
When a cluster is detected within a country which has agreed to follow the European Guidelines, network members are expected to report on investigations conducted to deal with these clusters. Usually these reports are submitted on time and show that adequate steps have been taken to control the risk of further legionella infection at these sites in the future.
Occasionally however, the report will either not be submitted by the required deadline, or will not convincingly show that the required standard of remedial action has been met. In these situations, the name of the accommodation site is published on this page of the ECDC website, in accordance with Subsection ‘Public disclosure of cluster/outbreak information’ of Section 21 of the European Guidelines. It will be removed only when a new report is received demonstrating that adequate control measures have been implemented and steps have been taken to minimize the risk of further cases occurring.
Important points:
- This is not a complete list of clusters detected by ELDSNet. It is a list of the current accommodation sites within countries operating the European Guidelines where we are unable to assess the risk of legionella infection, or where we believe there may be increased risk to travellers.
- This list will never include accommodation sites in countries which are not signatories to the European Guidelines. Since ELDSNet has no way to verify the actions taken in these countries, we can offer no comment on the risk status of accommodation sites there.
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