Greg Davies
Director of Market Development, Assurity Consulting
11th March 2026
The BBC having said:
“An unexpected increase in cases of Legionnaires' disease in parts of north-west and south-west London is being investigated by The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
Specialists are trying to find out if the cases are linked and to establish the possible source of the disease.
Experts are looking at each case of the disease to have broken out this year, interviewing patients or their families to retrace their steps to find out if there is a common link.”
London Legionnaire's outbreaks under investigation - BBC News
While the specific information on the investigation has not yet been released – number of cases, location and epidemiological details – we don’t know if it is a series of clusters or a potential outbreak(s) we’re dealing with.
The UK has not had a major Legionella outbreak for some time, although other parts of the World, including the USA, Australia, Europe and the Far East have. This is also unusual in terms of the time of year, as in the UK it tends to be the summer months where we see spikes in reported cases.
The fact that we have had a wet and relatively warm start to the year may also be a factor. These conditions are more favourable for Legionella, once in the atmosphere, to persist for longer than they normally would.
No doubt we will find out further details as the investigation progresses and how many are community acquired, travel related and whether there are any linked cases. What this also is, is a reminder for the need to have in place effective management of our water systems and services, with controls based on good quality risk assessment, written schemes of management and training.