Legionella Testing Services

Huntington Beach, California, March 7, 2024

Last year, the California Department of General Services (DGS) ordered the temporary closure of an office building in San Diego where hundreds of people work for multiple state agencies. The closure took place in April out of an abundance of caution due to health and safety concerns following the discovery of Legionella bacteria in the building’s water.

A new case of Legionnaires’ disease in an elderly person who visited the same building this past December has many workers in the office building concerned, according to a report from a Team 10 Investigates local news broadcast. The infected person’s status was only reported to state officials in January.

Legionella can be found naturally in the environment, typically in water, and in some building water systems. If people inhale contaminated water from a building water system that has not been adequately maintained, they could potentially develop Legionnaires’ disease or Pontiac fever. Tragically, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that Legionnaires’ disease can be fatal in up to 10% of diagnosed cases.

“It is strongly recommended to have a water management program in place to reduce the risk of Legionnaires’ disease associated with building water systems and devices,” said Michael Chapman, Laboratory Manager of LA Testing’s Huntington Beach facility. “Routine environmental sampling for Legionella can be an effective way to validate the efficacy of a water management program to confirm the program is working as intended.”

With multiple laboratories in California, LA Testing offers laboratory services and specialized sampling supplies to detect Legionella and many other microbial pathogens from environmental samples. In fact, LA Testing's South Pasadena and Huntington Beach laboratories are both CDC ELITE laboratories for Legionella testing.

To learn more about Legionella or other infection control and environmental testing resources, please visit www.LATesting.com, email info@LATesting.com or call (800) 755-1794. 

About LA Testing

LA Testing is California’s leading laboratory for environmental and indoor air quality testing of asbestos, mold, bacteria, lead, VOCs, formaldehyde, soot, char, ash and smoke damage, particulates and other chemicals. In addition, LA Testing offers a full range of air sampling and investigative equipment to professionals and the general public. LA Testing maintains an extensive list of accreditations including: AIHA LAP LLC., AIHA ELLAP, AIHA EMLAP and AIHA IHLAP, CDC ELITE, NVLAP, State of California, State of Hawaii Department of Health and other states. LA Testing, along with the EMSL Analytical, Inc. network, has multiple laboratories throughout California including South Pasadena, Huntington Beach, San Leandro and San Diego.