| NATO troops in Lithuania were afraid of bacteria Nature itself is helping Russia to erect a barrier on its western borders, to which the North Atlantic Alliance bases are already very close. The tiny bacterium Legionella pneumophila turned out to be more effective than the loud statements of the Russian Foreign Ministry about the inadmissibility of NATO troops staying in close proximity to the territory of our country. Under its pressure, 42 NATO troops servicing fighter jets at the Zokniai airfield in Lithuania were forced to retreat. Naturally, the brave representatives of the Alliance will not so easily surrender the former Soviet Air Force base 7 km from Siauliai, which they had chosen for basing F-16 fighters, which, after Lithuania’s accession to NATO, should control the Baltic airspace. However, they had already had to change their quartering place - for several days now they had to go for the night not to the Siauliai hotel, but to Panevezys, located 150 km from the airfield runways. And the allied forces of NATO military doctors and Lithuanian doctors have not yet been able to defeat the malicious bacterium.
And this is not surprising at all. Despite the fact that the causative agent of the most severe form of pneumonia called Legionnaires' disease - the bacterium Legionella pneumophila - scientists have been studying for decades, a remedy has not yet been found that would quickly destroy its traces. Heat-loving legionella happily multiply in stagnant fresh waters and therefore have long been a favorite of many technical reservoirs - periodically dangerous bacteria are found in water pipes, wastewater treatment systems, and water conditioning equipment. Chemical water purification agents or, for example, ultraviolet irradiation can only stop their reproduction. According to scientists, legionellosis pathogens die only if the water temperature exceeds 60 degrees Celsius. Outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease are not that frequent, but this form of pneumonia has a high mortality rate, and Europe is periodically rocked by reports of victims of the vile bacteria. A couple of years ago, after the spring session, even several members of the European Parliament had to be given antibiotics in huge doses, who fell ill due to legionella getting into the hot water pipes of an administrative building in Strasbourg.
We can say that the reaction of the Danish military doctor, who demanded the immediate removal of all military personnel after the discovery of legionella pneumophila in the Siauliai hotel, was quite adequate. The doctor proved himself to be a strategic commander, deciding to sacrifice a convenient position for an overnight stay in order to preserve his personnel. But the Lithuanian authorities, who were so eager to join NATO and happily provided a former Soviet airfield for Danish Air Force fighters, found themselves in a very disadvantageous position. After all, the dangerous bacteria, which the whole of Europe is now learning about at the instigation of the NATO military, can hit not only the aviation of the North Atlantic Alliance, but also the hotel business in the republic itself.
Hotel owners are already panicking. Within a few days, the Lithuanian Public Health Center (PHC) was literally bombarded with requests from hotel directors demanding that their water be tested as well. After all, if, God forbid, one of the guests gets sick, the hotel will instantly be included in the pan-European black list of undesirable hotels. According to Egle Dilkene, executive director of the Lithuanian Hotel Association, many hotel owners had not even heard of legionellosis until recently. The last time the causative agent of this disease was registered in Lithuania was 19 years ago. “The health protection requirements for accommodation services do not provide for a testing procedure for the content of this bacterium, so it was only occasionally ordered by individual entrepreneurs,” explained Milda Matkevichiute, a doctor at the state inspection of non-food products under the Ministry of Economy of the Republic.
Hotels that order them will receive the results of legionella tests only after ten days. And therefore the whole next week will be quite nervous for them. The owners of the Siauliai Hotel, which provoked the crisis, in order to save the prestige of the hotel, where guests from NATO were staying so dear to the Lithuanian heart, urgently purchased and are already installing a modern water heater capable of warming it up to 68 degrees. Vladimir SKRIPOV, Vilnius, Fedor SEREBRYANSKY |
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