The germs that cause the disease can be found in hotels, hospitals and cruise ships. Here's what you need to know.

An outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease at the Sheraton Atlanta during the busy summer travel season is a reminder dangerous germs can lurk in hotel hot tubs, showers and air-conditioning units.

Health officials in Georgia there are now 11 lab-confirmed cases and 55 probable cases of the rare, but serious, lung infection linked to the outbreak. No one has died.

Globally, we are ingesting an average of 5 grams of plastic every week, the equivalent of a credit card, a new study suggests.

This plastic contamination comes from "microplastics" -- particles smaller than five millimeters -- which are making their way into our food, drinking water and even the air.

Around the world, people ingest an average of around 2,000 microplastic particles a week, according to the study by the University of Newcastle, in Australia.

And 10 facts about the bottled water industry.

The bottled water industry is about as wasteful as they come. This billion dollar industry is taking something that is essentially free around the world, packaging it, and selling it for profit. And it gets worse.

Nestlé — the same company that brings you those delicious Toll House cookies — decided in May to open a new plant in the middle of the drought-stricken desert in Arizona.  

HÀ NỘI – The water quality of lakes, rivers, streams and canals in Việt Nam is seriously degrading. Water in urban areas and industrial zones poses risks to human and aquatic animals.

Rivers such as Tô Lịch, Sét and Kim Ngưu in Hà Nội have become sections of the city’s waste water drainage system.

The information was revealed yesterday in a water pollution report conducted by the Coalition for Clean Water and the Centre for Environment and Community Research (CECR) under the Việt Nam Union of Science and Technology Organisations.

In a recent study, researchers from Texas A&M found that exposure to dietary exposure to bisphenol-A, or BPA can worsen symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease.

This is the first study to show that BPA can negatively impact gut microbial amino acid metabolism in a way that has been associated with irritable bowel disease.

Irritable bowel disease, or IBD, is a complex collection of diseases that include ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

Thousands of families in outlying districts are forced to depend on ground water.

Ho Chi Minh City lost nearly 30 percent of its clean water in 2016 through leaking and broken pipes, according to a new report from the city's utility company.

Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco) said it delivered around 630 million cubic meters of clean water last year, but some people were still unable to turn on the taps.

The World Health Organization is to launch a review into the potential risks of plastic in drinking water.

It will assess the latest research into the spread and impact of so-called microplastics - particles that are small enough to be ingested.

It comes after journalism organisation Orb Media found plastic particles in many major brands of bottled water.

There is no evidence that microplastics can undermine human health but the WHO wants to assess the state of knowledge.

Tests on major brands of bottled water have found that nearly all of them contained tiny particles of plastic.

In the largest investigation of its kind, 250 bottles bought in nine different countries were examined.

Research led by journalism organisation Orb Media discovered an average of 10 plastic particles per litre, each larger than the width of a human hair.

Companies whose brands were tested told the BBC that their bottling plants were operated to the highest standards.

The tests were conducted at the State University of New York in Fredonia.

Calculations have shown that 10 per cent of all plastic produced around the world ultimately ends up in the oceans. As a result, a large majority of global marine debris is in fact plastic waste. Human production of plastics is a well-known environmental concern, but few studies have studied the effects of tiny plastic particles, known as nanoplastic particles.

"Our study is the first to show that nanosized plastic particles can accumulate in fish brains," says Tommy Cedervall, a chemistry researcher at Lund University.

Exclusive: Tests show billions of people globally are drinking water contaminated by plastic particles, with 83% of samples found to be polluted

Microplastic contamination has been found in tap water in countries around the world, leading to calls from scientists for urgent research on the implications for health.

Scores of tap water samples from more than a dozen nations were analysed by scientists for an investigation by Orb Media, who shared the findings with the Guardian. Overall, 83% of the samples were contaminated with plastic fibres.