Controlling Legionnaire’s Disease

Following the 1999 epidemic of Legionella pneumonia which broke out among visitors to the West-Friese Flora in Bovenkarspel, the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport has approached the Health Council for advice. The Minister wanted to know how prevention could be improved and how gains might be made from the improved diagnosis and treatment of patients suffering from Legionnaire’s Disease. Building on a previous advisory report completed in 1986, the Committee on Legionellosis addresses these questions in the present report. Its ability to provide concrete answers is of course subject to the limitations of the scientific situation.