Legionella at vet clinics: what’s the risk?

11-01-2024

Time for another update in our ‘What’s the risk?’ blog series!

This time, Dynamika director Brett Wallace takes a look at veterinary clinics and animal care facilities, and what the presence of legionella means for you and your furry friends…

Can your pets contract Legionnaire’s disease at the vets?

Here’s the good news; even if we assume there’s legionella bacteria present at your local veterinarian, it’s almost impossible that your pets will get sick.

There have been no known cases of dogs or cats catching the disease; nor most other animals outside of laboratory conditions.

Apparently, the only case of an animal contracting Legionnaire’s disease outside the lab was a calf from a dairy herd in Italy back in the 1990s, where the calf sadly died.

This event prompted a scientific study by Italian scientists, where they collected the results of various other studies into both domestic and wild animals; with no conclusive results between those studies.

Can you contract Legionnaires’ disease at the vets?

The main danger of a potential legionella outbreak at a veterinary surgery, then, is to the humans – but can you actually catch legionella at the vets?

We weren’t able to find any stories of Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks linked to veterinary clinics and animal care facilities; but the risk should never be underestimated…

How can legionella grow and spread at veterinary surgeries?

Like dental surgeries, veterinary clinics also rely on dental unit water lines (DUWLs) to clean, cool and irrigate their patients’ mouths during treatments – only their patients are often a lot fluffier! As we talked about in our previous article, DUWL systems can be particularly susceptible to developing biofilms where legionella bacteria can thrive. And since their high-speed water jets often aerosolize some of the water into airborne droplets, they can potentially spread that bacteria to the lungs of vets and customers. Most vet clinics also employ washer-disinfector technology to keep their equipment sterilized between appointments. These require regular ‘validation’ to prevent contamination; with poor maintenance schedules potentially opening the door to legionella infection. Certain specialist veterinary facilities (such as animal hydrotherapy baths and marine veterinarian facilities) can also pose a heightened risk of legionella infection.

What are veterinarians’ responsibilities and best practices for preventing legionella?

As we touched upon earlier, the risk of vet clinics harbouring and spreading legionella is low.

However, just like any other employer, veterinary facility owners still have a legal responsibility to protect the wellbeing of their staff and customers from a potential Legionnaires’ disease outbreak.

That means appointing a responsible person, carrying out a full legionella risk assessment across all the facilities on site, and carrying out periodic monitoring and disinfection procedures to control the risk.

Just like human dental unit water lines, vet surgery DUWLs should ideally use distilled or reverse osmosis water; or if not, airgap fixtures should be installed to keep the DUWL separate from the water supply. They should also be flushed through every day and frequently disinfected.

Hydrotherapy pools should also be carefully monitored, with microbiological testing to be carried out at least once a week.

Vet clinic staff should always be kept in the loop about legionella prevention measures, and these measures should be reviewed frequently and updated where necessary.

Dynamika can offer regular water system inspection and disinfection services for all kinds of veterinary and animal care facilities; as well as legionella risk assessments and even microbiological testing via UKAS-accredited laboratories. Call us on