Chlorination Health Dictionary

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Chlorination: From 1 Different Sources

n. the addition of noninjurious amounts of chlorine (often one part per million) to water supplies before human consumption to ensure that harmful microorganisms are destroyed. Higher concentrations of chlorine are also used to improve the microbiological suitability of bathing water (as in swimming pools). See also fluoridation.
Health Source: Oxford | Concise Colour Medical Dictionary
Author: Jonathan Law, Elizabeth Martin

Legionnaire’s Disease

A form of PNEUMONIA due to a bacterium known as Legionella pneumophila, so-called because the ?rst identi?ed outbreak was in a group of US ex-servicemen (members of the American Legion). Inhalation of water aerosols seems the most likely way that people acquire the disease, for example from air-conditioning outlets. Some rubber outlets in showers and taps are able to support the growth of legionnellae so that high concentrations of the organism are released when the tap is ?rst used in the morning. In the presence of the disease, the treatment of infected water systems is essential by cleaning, chlorination, heating or a combination of all three.

The pneumonia caused by legionnellae has no distinctive clinical or radiological features, so that the diagnosis is based on an antibody test performed on a blood sample. There is no evidence that the disease is transmitted directly from person to person. The incubation period is 2–10 days; the disease starts with aches and pains followed rapidly by a rise in temperature, shivering attacks, cough and shortness of breath. The X-ray tends to show patchy areas of consolidation in the lungs. Erythromycin and rifampicin are the most useful antibiotics, although rifampicin should never be given alone because of the rapid development of drug resistance.... legionnaire’s disease

Meningoencephalitis

Meningoencephalitis is the term applied to infection of the membranes, or MENINGES, of the brain and the underlying brain matter. In practically all cases of MENINGITIS there is some involvement of the underlying brain, and it is when this involvement is considerable that the term, meningoencephalitis, is used. One form that has attracted attention in recent years is that caused by amoebae (see AMOEBA), particularly that known as Naegleria fowleri, in which the infection is acquired through bathing in contaminated water. E?ective chlorination of swimming baths kills this micro-organism.... meningoencephalitis

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