Experts Call for Heightened Awareness and Action to Remove Dangerous Pathogens from Hospital Water.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

Association for Professionals in Infection Control & Epidemiology

Annual Conference

EAST HILLS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 8, 2004

Thousands of patients in the U.S. become ill and die each year from hospital-acquired (nosocomial) infections. Many of these infections are transmitted on the hands of healthcare workers or from contaminated instruments or surfaces. However, most people are surprised to learn that the water system in a hospital is a significant source of these infections. Two of the world's leading experts on hospital waterborne infection, Janet E. Stout, PhD, and Elias J. Anaissie, MD, are calling for increased infection control initiatives in a special symposium sponsored by filtration industry leader Pall Corporation (NYSE:PLL) at the annual conference of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control & Epidemiology (APIC) in Phoenix, Arizona today. They will discuss the extent of the problem and the potential risk to patients from contaminated waters systems in hospitals and nursing homes.

An important and often overlooked source of nosocomial infection is the water distribution system. According to authorities in the field, pneumonias caused by bacteria, such as Legionella, or fungi, such as Aspergillus, can grow in and contaminate faucets, taps and showers in hospitals and may be potentially fatal for immune compromised patients, such as cancer, AIDS, surgical. transplant and burn patients as well as the elderly and newborns.

"Despite the availability of effective control measures, no clear guidelines exist for the prevention of these kinds of infections," says Dr. Anaissie, Director of Supportive Care at the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Legionnaires' disease, a severe form of bacterial pneumonia with high mortality, can be found even in hospital water systems that are well maintained, due to the formation of biofilm. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 23 percent of all Legionnaires disease reported in the U.S. during the 1980s was acquired in hospitals, and of these cases, 40 percent of the patients died, twice the rate for infections acquired outside the hospital. A recent survey found that as many as five out of six hospitals in one geographic area of the U.S. had Legionella bacteria in their water supply.

"We have known since 1982 that potable water, especially in hospitals with complex hot water systems, is the most important source of Legionella transmission," says Dr. Stout, Director of the Special Pathogens Laboratory, Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System. "If this waterborne pathogen is in the water system, Legionnaires' disease will occur. Approximately 18,000 cases of Legionnaires occur annually and 25 percent of these are acquired from hospital water systems. If you do the math, 39,000 lives have been lost since 1983 due to this bacterium alone. These infections are preventable. We know that if you control the source, you control the disease."

Legionella is only one of a few waterborne bacteria that can cause hospital-acquired infections with significant morbidity and mortally. An estimated 1,400 deaths occur each year in the U.S. as a result of nosocomial pneumonias caused by the waterborne Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria alone. According to Dr. Stout, it causes approximately 15 percent of all hospital-acquired infections and 25 percent of infections in the intensive care unit (ICU). If transplant patients (either solid organ or bone marrow), cancer or other immunosuppressed patients become infected with either Legionella or pseudomonas bacteria, the prognosis is poor.

"Why should these patients succumb to these serious diseases?" asks Dr. Stout. She says that they don't have to because hospitals can proactively eliminate the source, especially in transplant units and ICUs through water system disinfection, either system wide or at the point-of-use. The CDC has stipulated that water in areas housing transplant patients should not contain any legionella bacteria. "This strict limit is difficult to achieve with systemic disinfection, so an alternative may be point-of-use filtration," she adds.

Dr. Stout discussed the results of her study on the efficacy of point-of-use filtration to eliminate Legionella bacteria and other pathogens from hospital water. The study, conducted at the VA Pittsburgh, found that the 0.2-micron Pall-AquasafeTM Water Filter completely eliminated Legionella pneumophilia and Mycobacterium spp and achieved a greater than 99 percent reduction in heterotrophic bacteria in the water samples.

The number of cases of Legionnaires disease reported to the CDC rose from 436 in mid 2002 to 624 in mid 2003. The state of Pennsylvania reported 84 cases by mid 2003 compared to 46 cases over the same period in the previous year. Although the number of reported outbreaks of Legionnaires is on the rise in hospitals and nursing homes across the U.S., experts say it is still under reported and under diagnosed.

"There is clearly still a need to educate healthcare professionals as well as patients on the risk of hospital waterborne pathogens and the proactive approaches to prevent these infections," says Dr. Stout.

Dr. Anaissie explains that the problem is not limited to bacteria, because nosocomial mold infections can also be life threatening, especially in immune compromised patients. These molds were originally thought to only arise from contaminated outdoor air that infiltrates hospital ventilation systems. Despite the widespread use of high-efficiency air filtration systems, the incidence of hospital mold infections still continues to increase. This has led to the recognition that there are other sources of mold in hospitals.

"Water systems worldwide have been shown to be colonized with pathogenic molds," says Dr. Anaissie. This finding was further supported by the results of a three-year study (published in April 2003 Blood), he conducted in a hospital caring for immune compromised patients (bone marrow transplant units) that had adequate air filtration precautions and water chlorination. The study demonstrated that opportunistic molds colonize hospital water distribution systems, become part of the system's biofilm and lead to patient exposure due to spore aerosolization in patient care areas. Biofilms are colonies of microorganisms, which can buildup on the surface of a building's water system. People become infected when they breathe in the aerosols, tiny invisible droplets of water that contain the bacteria and/or fungi, which form when the water hits the hard surface of the faucet, showerhead, pipes or storage tank.

"European hospitals are ahead of the U.S. in recognizing and mandating point-of- use water filtration as a simple and effective solution to the problem of waterborne pathogens," Dr. Stout adds.

France and Germany have issued directives that 0.2. micron point-of-use water filters are to be used wherever immune compromised patients are. In the U.S., due to growing recognition of the problem and the increasing number of outbreaks of waterborne infections in hospitals across the nation, five states--Florida, Missouri, California, Pennsylvania and Illinois--are currently considering legislation that calls for hospitals to alert the public to their infection rates. Additionally, the Consumers Union is orchestrating a national campaign to raise awareness of nosocomial infections and to lobby for legislative action.

About Pall Corporation

Pall Corporation is the leader in the rapidly growing fields of filtration, separations and purification. Pall's business is organized around two broad markets: Life Sciences and Industrial. The Company provides leading-edge products to meet the demanding needs of customers in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, transfusion medicine, semiconductors, municipal drinking water, aerospace and broad industrial markets. Total revenues are $1.6 billion. The Company headquarters are in East Hills, New York with operations in more than 30 countries. Further information is available at www.pall.com.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on current Company expectations and are subject to risk and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; regulatory approval and market acceptance of new technologies; changes in product mix and product pricing and in interest rates and cost of raw materials; the Company's success in enforcing its patents and protecting its proprietary products and manufacturing techniques and its ability to achieve the savings anticipated from its cost reduction initiatives; global and regional economic conditions and legislative, regulatory and political developments; and domestic and international competition in the Company's global markets. Additional information regarding these and other factors is available on the Web at www.pall.com and is included in the Company's reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of such reports can be obtained, without charge, at www.sec.gov.

Editor's Note:

-- Photos of the Pall-AquaSafeTM Water Filter, reprints of

studies by the experts and additional supporting information

on waterborne nosocomial infections can be found on

http://www.pall.com/pressroom.