Health Risk Assessment of Contracting a Legionella Infection from Dental Water Lines of Dental Practitioners in Sub-district Health Promoting Hospitals, Phuket Province

Abstract

This survey study of health risks of contracting legionella disease from dental equipment  water systems in 16 sub-district health promoting hospitals in Phuket Province aimed to                               1) investigate Legionella spp. and Acanthamoeba spp. by culture techniques as well as report of results as detected and not detected with descriptive statistics including percentage, mean, and report at species level, 2) assess the health risks of 18 dental practitioners to Legionella disease by using a health risk questionnaire that was checked for content validity by 3 experts with a content validity index (CVI) equal to .92. The reliability was tested. The Cronbach alpha coefficient was equal to .97. The research results were as follows.

1. The Legionella spp. was detected in 2 swabs, PK-7 samples. The colony count of 180 CFU/swab was found at 6.25 % from the oral rinsing cup. The triple syringe swab found the colony count of 36 CFU/swab at 6.25%. The species results confirmed L. pneumophilla serogroup 1, which is a pathogenic species but did not found Acanthamoeba spp. which may be a source of confirmed L. pneumophilla.

2. The workers' health risk assessment regarding Legionella disease found that the risk level was at a high level or unacceptable that required risk management, including standing water in the pipes bending into automatic cups, and mouthwash basins often having standing water. If water is not removed, it is a source of Legionnaires' disease transmission. The moderate risk level or acceptable but it must be controlled including cold/humid conditions and ventilation in the dental room, affecting the survival of L. pneumophilla and at risk of developing respiratory infection.

The results of this research provided information on the detection of Legionnaires' disease pathogens, threats and health risk levels that can be used as the basic information for planning and controlling environmental health in the workplace to reduce the risk of illness among health workers in sub-district health promotion hospitals.