This past summer, there was a cluster of Legionnaires’ disease (Legionellosis) cases in the Bronx. As most readers know, legionellosis is a disease that creates pneumonia-like symptoms caused by bacteria that belong to the species Legionella pneumophila. The species disease names both commemorate the sentinel outbreak that struck 221 attendees at the 1976 American Legion Convention in Philadelphia. Everything we know about Legionella today stems from the initial response to the 1976…

I’m sharing an email exchange that I had with a colleague who had asked about the risk of L. pneumophila (the microbe that causes Legionnaire’s disease) in MWF.
Thank you for posting your query to BCA’s website.

You wrote:
“I wondered if you could help me answer a customer’s question. One of my customer’s machine tool operators is in the hospital being treated for Legionnaires’ disease. My customer asked me if the Kathon 886 MW or Kathon CC kills this strain of bacteria. I really…

A 5 min, condensed version of my 2014 paper: “A Differential Adenosine Triphosphate Test Method for Differentiating between Bacterial and Fungal Contamination in Water-Miscible Metalworking Fluids” is now available at http://audioslides.elsevier.com/getvideo.aspx?doi=10.1016/j.ibiod.2015.01.006.
The paper describes how the method was developed and validated. This is the first published report of an ATP test method that can quantify microbial biomass and then distinguish between bacterial and…

STLE held our annual meeting in Dallas two weeks ago. During the meeting I had the pleasure of chairing the MWF 210 – Metalworking Fluids Hot Topics course. Too many hot topics to cover in a blog post, so I’ll focus on my course module: Microbicide Regulatory Roulette Wheel.
The metalworking industry is facing a regulatory tsunami. The EU’s Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR; replaced the Biocidal Products Directive in 2012 and became effective in September 2013). Two items of particular…

Last week, I received an email query from Kevin H:
Hi, do you know the RLU limit for diesel i see the IATA say

Here’s my response:
Kevin:

Thank you for your query about the existence of an RLU criterion for ATP-bioburdens in non-aviation distillate fuel.

When I suggested the HY-LiTE test low, medium and high levels, I basically translated from the culture test criteria I had developed from the decision matrix I had been using for BCA’s Biodeterioration Risk Assessments. (high risk:…