title: A review of Legionella pneumophila in horses and some South African serological results.
abstract: An examination of the sera of 329 horses for L. pneumophila antibodies revealed a much lower exposure rate than that reported in the United States of America. Further serological investigations of persons closely associated with a sero-positive horse indicated that the horse could not be considered to be a source of infection but that both humans and animals were probably exposed to a common source of infection. The results showed that 192/329 (58.4%) of the sera tested negative, 114/329 (34.7%) had end-point titres of 1/2, 22/329 (6.7%) end-points of 1/16 and one an end point of 1/256 (0.3%). Serological testing of the people closely associated with horses showed that out of 22 people, 3 had a positive end-point titre of 1:64 and only one person showed an end-point titre of 1:256.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, Republic of South Africa.
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Wilkins
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bergh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000276:immunology*; D006736:Horses; D007875:Legionella / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007877:Legionnaires' Disease / Q000662:veterinary*; D012698:Serologic Tests