There is a lot of stuff floating around in the air like human skin,pollen and fungal spores among many other things. Also, unless humidity is at 0%, there will be water in the air. Humidity is high in many ventilation systems because of the aerosols they use. All that stuff can stick to the walls of the ventilation system, creating biofilms where amoeba and other microbes can feed on.
Legionella lives in some of these microbes, absorbing the nutrients they get when they "eat". Legionela needs Iron to survive, so they can easilly get it from the corrotion ocurring from the "weathering" of the ventilation system.
Unless an environment is being constantly sterilized, microbes will eventually grow. They are everywhere, some are also floating in the air around you right now.
AdTechnical8967 t1_j8dvxuo wrote
Reply to What do bacteria living in mechanical ventilation feed on ? by malahchi
There is a lot of stuff floating around in the air like human skin,pollen and fungal spores among many other things. Also, unless humidity is at 0%, there will be water in the air. Humidity is high in many ventilation systems because of the aerosols they use. All that stuff can stick to the walls of the ventilation system, creating biofilms where amoeba and other microbes can feed on.
Legionella lives in some of these microbes, absorbing the nutrients they get when they "eat". Legionela needs Iron to survive, so they can easilly get it from the corrotion ocurring from the "weathering" of the ventilation system.
Unless an environment is being constantly sterilized, microbes will eventually grow. They are everywhere, some are also floating in the air around you right now.