Transmission of Legionnaires’ Disease through Toilet Flushing

Abstract

We describe 2 cases of healthcare-associated Legionnaires’ disease in patients in France hospitalized 5 months apart in the same room. Whole-genome sequencing analyses showed that clinical isolates from the patients and isolates from the room’s toilet clustered together. Toilet contamination by Legionella pneumophila could lead to a risk for exposure through flushing.

Keywords

• Bacteria
• healthcare-associated infections
• Legionnaires’ disease
• nosocomial infections
• phylogeny
• pneumophilia