I was discussing with my Father-in-law his new car and he mentioned that he'd read somewhere that 1 in 5 cases of legionnaires disease is caused by stagnant water in a cars windscreen washer bottle.
And it makes perfect sense really.... warm conditions, a bottle always topped up so any dregs infected mix with the fresh water.
It's then squirted onto the windscreen and the vapour in the air is sucked through the air fan and blown into the car's sealed environment.
Funny that we were discussing that only the other day when I came across a blog post regarding legionella and bacterial infections in solar hot water systems.
More on that in tomorrow's post.
TTFN.
photo credit: hamed saber
As a follow-up, I came across this and many similar articles on Legionnaires disease in car windscreen washer bottles.
ReplyDeleteIt would seem that adding screen wash to your washer bottle can destroy any nasty bacteria.
Here's a link to one auto blog that details some excellent findings in research carried out and a survey made of sample vehicles.
Only using plain water in your washer bottle is not recommended.
(apparently, using a screen wash additive also lubricates your wiper blades and extends their life).
Here's that link: http://uk.autoblog.com/2010/06/14/windscreen--water-could-cause-legionnaires-disease/
oops - I meant here is the link:
ReplyDeleteautoblog - windscreen water could cause legionnaires disease