Killing Legionella before it kills patients

Legionella ? discovered in 1976 when it sickened attendees of an American Legion conference ? is alive and flourishing, often in hospital water pipes.

Federal guidelines call for testing and disinfection procedures only after hospital-acquired cases crop up, said Janet Stout, microbiologist with the University of Pittsburgh. “However, the mortality rate is so high, that?s after people have died.”