Around 1,200 pupils without school: in Palermo, the alarm over the contamination of water systems brings to the center an illness that can cause serious pneumonia.
The Legionella alert is back: in Sicily, the closure of three schools in Palermo, after the discovery of the bacterium in the water systems, has rekindled the alarm about a fearful and never eradicated disease. About 1,200 pupils are home from school from early October, while families await answers on the checks and conditions necessary to return to class. The affair has reignited attention on the safety of water in public buildings and on an infection which, despite having been known for decades, continues to represent a public health problem. There Legionella pneumophila can proliferate in water systems when it finds favorable conditions, such as adequate temperatures, stagnation and deposits in the pipes. Contagion occurs mainly by inhaling tiny droplets of contaminated water, produced for example by showers and taps.
The invisible bacterium: how it is transmitted and what the symptoms are
Legionella is not normally transmitted from person to person. The presence of the bacterium in water also does not mean that all exposed people will get sick. The most serious form is Legionnaires’ diseasepneumonia that may require hospitalization. Symptoms include high fever, cough, headache, muscle aches and tiredness. They can also appear difficulty breathing, chest pain, diarrhea and confusion. Symptoms generally appear two to ten days after exposure. There is also the Pontiac fevera milder, flu-like form that is generally free of pneumonia. Diagnosis of Legionnaires’ disease requires specific tests, such as urinary antigen testing and analysis of respiratory samples. Legionellosis is treatable with appropriate antibioticsprescribed by the doctor. In severe cases, hospitalization may be necessary. However, it is not indicated to take antibiotics preventively after a simple exposure, without a clinical evaluation.
Prevention is crucial
Legionella was identified in 1976, after a pneumonia epidemic in Philadelphia which affected 221 people and killed 34. It has since been known that water and air conditioning systems can become sources of exposure if they are not managed correctly. The phenomenon is not marginal. In 2024, 4,627 cases of legionellosis were notified in Italyan increase of 18 percent compared to the previous year, second the Higher Institute of Health. Prevention is based on plant maintenance, risk assessment, microbiological controls and remediation interventions when necessary. In the case of Palermo, the critical issues concern the Tomaselli, Trinacria and Marone complexes and obviously the priority is verify the results of the analyses and ensure that the systems are safe before returning to the school premises. “My children have been at home for more than 10 days now” a healthcare professional, mother of two children, tells us. «The authorities bounce the problem from one week to the next and they continue to postpone the reopening of school buildings due to the continuation of the emergency: it would be appropriate to try to speed up the sanitization, reclamation and control operations, in order to guarantee school continuity for all children”.
Who is most at risk and how can infection be prevented?
Not all people exposed to Legionella develop the disease. The risk of a severe form increases especially in the elderly, in smokers, in people with chronic lung diseases and in those with a weakened immune system. Some pre-existing diseases can also make the course of the infection more complicated. Prevention, therefore, does not only concern environments in which contamination has already been identified. It requires regular checks of water systems, scheduled maintenance and timely interventions when conditions favorable to the proliferation of the bacterium emerge. In collective buildings, such as schools, hospitals and hotels, the risk assessment must take into account the characteristics of the water network and ways of using water.
When contamination is detected, the cleanup must be entrusted to competent personnel and accompanied by subsequent checks. Don’t just run a disinfection and assume the problem is resolved: it is necessary to ensure that the interventions have produced the expected results. This is one of the central aspects of the Palermo emergency. The closure of schools may be necessary to protect health, but it must be accompanied by transparent information on the results of the tests, the interventions carried out and the criteria that will allow the reopening. Families need to know not only when their children will be able to return to class, but also what checks will ensure the safety of the environments. Legionella is a risk that has been known and studied for decades. To reduce it, we don’t need alarmism, but effective controls, continuous maintenance and responsibility in the management of the systems. Prevention begins long before a building, especially a school attended even by very young children of primary age, has to close: and it becomes truly effective when the problem is identified before it turns into an emergency.
