Legionaries disease worry, garden hose

[Nighttime pacer]

Hi all
I've found something new to worry about, as if I didn't have a big enough list already!
I've read that you can get legionnaires disease from stagnent water and am worried because earlier tonight I went out to water my plants.
I haven't used the hose for 2 days and didn't notice there was a kink in it so no water was coming out. I turned the tap off and then pulled the end of the hose off to see if it was blocked and water sprayed up into my face. Not that much as it was only a few drops on my face but I'm still worried.
I read that it's the fine droplets of water you breathe in that cause the legionaires disease in your lungs. I always leave the end of the hose with the hand gun bit switched on then turn the hose off so I assume less water is staying in the hose.
I think most of the water that I got sprayed with must have come from the tap rather than already have been in the hose but I'm still really worried. I wonder if a hose not being used for 2 days would have been long enough to get loads of bacteria growing in it.
Sorry for rambling, as always I'm panicking about this.
I'm planning on phoning the british lung foundation helpline tomorrow for more info.
Thanks for reading this.
Nighttime pacer

---------- Post added at 03:33 ---------- Previous post was at 03:25 ----------

I'm now panicking even more as I've just read that a man died from contracting legionaries disease from his garden hose.
I'm soooo scared. I just hope I'm ok.

[NancyW]

Oh my goodness, where did you read such a thing?

[Nighttime pacer]

Hi NancyW,
I read it in an online article from the daily mail and the daily mirror. There was also an australian site talking about the dangers of hoses. I spoke to someone at the British Lung Foundation this morning but she said she wasn't medically trained and frankly wasn't much help. I've booked an appointment to see my asthma specialist on Tuesday. I just keep reminding myself that it's very rare, but that's not helping much.

[Nighttime pacer]

Hi all
I'm still worrying about this but realise that as my health anxiety always seems to find really specialised problems no one can really comment. I keep reminding myself that if hardly anyone has heard of legionnaires disease and garden hoses it must be mercifully rare. My anxiety often seems to mean even though I logically understand I'm worrying about almost nothing it doesn't stop me worrying.
I really wish there was a cure for health anxiety. It always seems to be in the background ready to pounce. At times life seems so tiring.
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[MyNameIsTerry]

When we normally hear about outbreaks of it, it's about water collecting in air conditioning systems.

But any water system under the right conditions can have it in as the HSE say:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/legionnaires/workplace-risks.htm

Even indoor fountains!

But like the NHS Say:

Legionnaires' disease is rare in the UK. In 2013, 284 people were reported to have the infection in England and Wales. Of these cases, 88 people (31%) were exposed to the infection while travelling abroad

–

mainly to Mediterranean countries, but also tropical countries such as India. However, given the millions of trips made abroad each year, 88 cases is a very small number.

So many of us must get sprayed with stagnant water. But still it's rare to get this.

[Nighttime pacer]

Hi all
I spoke to a pharmacist yesterday and he knew a little bit about legionnaires disease and thinks I have nothing to worry about.
It's reassured me a little and now just have to hang on for hopefully more reassurance from my asthma specialist on Tuesday.
My is it that with health anxiety unless we get 100% reassurance we still worry?
Thanks all for reading my rambling!
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[ScaredLizard]

Don't worry about it friend. Do you know how many children play and splash in hoses? Probably thousands a day in the summer and we still very rarely hear about legionaires. If you had a pool and were not treating it for months then you might need to worry but with a hose I think you are safe.

[Nighttime pacer]

HI all
I've just scared myself again!
I went into the garden and I've got a large sort of trolley which is like a big bucket on wheels. I saw it was full of rain water. I think the water may have been in there for weeks.
I decided to empty it. I walked away from it and took a deep breath and then held my breath and walked up to it and lowered it forward so the water could run out. I then walked away and breathed again. I then waited a minute and walked back to it holding my breath again and tipped it completely upside down to get any remaining water out. I then walked about and breathed.
I've read that it's the fine spray from showers and things that causes you to catch it by breathing it in.
I hope I did what I did safely enough.
I'm sick off all this worry!

[Fishmanpa]

With respect, and I realize you're scared... BUT... from an outside perspective do you recognize the irrationality? This is a lot like some of the rabies and ALS threads. There is no viable possibility in this. Before today, you would have watered the garden or emptied that wheel barrow with nary a thought other than I'm gardening.

But today, you read an article in the Daily Mail of all things and you're totally having a meltdown! You're talking about something ridiculously rare!... something like a .000004% chance of catching! Five 0's and a 4 man!

Truly, I hope you can see this from the perspective I'm seeing and you can ease your mind.

Positive thoughts

[ScaredLizard]

HI all
I've just scared myself again!
I went into the garden and I've got a large sort of trolley which is like a big bucket on wheels. I saw it was full of rain water. I think the water may have been in there for weeks.
I decided to empty it. I walked away from it and took a deep breath and then held my breath and walked up to it and lowered it forward so the water could run out. I then walked away and breathed again. I then waited a minute and walked back to it holding my breath again and tipped it completely upside down to get any remaining water out. I then walked about and breathed.
I've read that it's the fine spray from showers and things that causes you to catch it by breathing it in.
I hope I did what I did safely enough.
I'm sick off all this worry!

Are you seeing a dr for your anxiety? It sounds like this is starting to severely affect your life and I think you need to try and get some help with you anxiety.

I have an outdoor fountain that is filled with water. I put bleach in it every 2 weeks or so and never worry about Legionaire's disease