Biomaterial Database

Cooling towers and evaporative condensers. 1979

R P Miller

By 31 October 1978 there had been four confirmed instances where the Legionnaires' disease bacterium had been isolated from water samples taken from cooling towers or evaporative condensers located near the site of an epidemic of Legionnaires' disease. These devices are widely used to reject unwanted heat into the atmosphere and vary greatly in size and configuration. However, the operation of all towers and condensers depends on intimate contact between the circulating water and ambient air. Airborne contaminants in the vicinity of these devices are likely to be absorbed to some degree by the circulating water. The airstream leaving a cooling tower is saturated with water vapor and may also contain a relatively minute portion of the circulating water in the form of fine droplets known as drift. It is common practice to bleed a small portion of the circulating water, including all contaminants, from the tower into a storm sewer, sanitary sewer, or even a nearby body of water.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007877	Legionnaires' Disease	An acute, sometimes fatal, pneumonia-like bacterial infection characterized by high fever, malaise, muscle aches, respiratory disorders and headache. It is named for an outbreak at the 1976 Philadelphia convention of the American Legion.	Legionella pneumophila Infections,Infections, Legionella pneumophila,Legionnaire Disease,Pontiac Fever,Disease, Legionnaire,Disease, Legionnaires',Fever, Pontiac,Infection, Legionella pneumophila,Legionella pneumophila Infection,Legionnaire's Disease,Legionnaires Disease
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000336	Aerosols	Colloids with a gaseous dispersing phase and either liquid (fog) or solid (smoke) dispersed phase; used in fumigation or in inhalation therapy; may contain propellant agents.	Aerosol
D000389	Air Conditioning	The maintenance of certain aspects of the environment within a defined space to facilitate the function of that space; aspects controlled include air temperature and motion, radiant heat level, moisture, and concentration of pollutants such as dust, microorganisms, and gases. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed)	Air Revitalization,Climate Control,Air Conditionings,Air Revitalizations,Climate Controls,Conditioning, Air,Conditionings, Air,Control, Climate,Controls, Climate,Revitalization, Air,Revitalizations, Air
D000391	Air Microbiology	The presence of bacteria, viruses, and fungi in the air. This term is not restricted to pathogenic organisms.	Microbiology, Air
D001419	Bacteria	One of the three domains of life (the others being Eukarya and ARCHAEA), also called Eubacteria. They are unicellular prokaryotic microorganisms which generally possess rigid cell walls, multiply by cell division, and exhibit three principal forms: round or coccal, rodlike or bacillary, and spiral or spirochetal. Bacteria can be classified by their response to OXYGEN: aerobic, anaerobic, or facultatively anaerobic; by the mode by which they obtain their energy: chemotrophy (via chemical reaction) or PHOTOTROPHY (via light reaction); for chemotrophs by their source of chemical energy: CHEMOLITHOTROPHY (from inorganic compounds) or chemoorganotrophy (from organic compounds); and by their source for CARBON; NITROGEN; etc.; HETEROTROPHY (from organic sources) or AUTOTROPHY (from CARBON DIOXIDE). They can also be classified by whether or not they stain (based on the structure of their CELL WALLS) with CRYSTAL VIOLET dye: gram-negative or gram-positive.	Eubacteria
D014691	Ventilation	Supplying a building or house, their rooms and corridors, with fresh air. The controlling of the environment thus may be in public or domestic sites and in medical or non-medical locales. (From Dorland, 28th ed)	Ventilations
D014871	Water Microbiology	The presence of bacteria, viruses, and fungi in water. This term is not restricted to pathogenic organisms.	Microbiology, Water