title: Monitoring Legionella species in hospital water systems. Link with disease and evaluation of different detection methods.
abstract: The aim of this work was to evaluate three currently available isolation methods for Legionella using water samples and swabs of a single pediatric hospital water system. Additionally, high risk patients were screened for the presence of Legionella pneumophila antigen in urine. Fifteen water samples and 11 swab samples were collected from distal sites at 18 sampling locations. The International Standard Method (PN-ISO11731-2) based on membrane filtration and direct culture of bacteria on selective media were compared with amoebic co-culture. The numbers of legionellae detected exceeded 10(2) cfu/100 ml in 50% of the samples. All the positive samples contained L. pneumophila SGs 2-14. Urine samples were obtained from 57 immunosuppressed children and screened for the presence of L. pneumophila serogroup (SG) 1 antigen by Legionella urinary antigen EIA. Of the 57 urine samples tested for the presence of Legionella pneumophila SG 1 antigen, none were positive. Our results highlight the value of combined membrane filtration and amoebic co-culture methods in detecting viable L. pneumophila strains. Direct plating of 0.2 ml water is a useful screening method for samples containing large bacterial amount.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Medical University of Lublin, Chodzki 1, 20-093 Lublin, Poland.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koziol-Montewka
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Magrys
authors.forename: Nimfa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Stojek
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Palusinska-Szysz
authors.forename: Marzena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Danielak
authors.forename: Malgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wojtowicz
authors.forename: Jolanta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Niewiedziol
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Koncewicz
authors.forename: Justyna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Niedzwiadek
authors.forename: Jolanta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Paluch-Oles
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Trzeciak
authors.forename: Wincenty
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Drozanski
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dutkiewicz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000652:urine; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D005374:Filtration; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007875:Legionella / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008297:Male; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D011044:Poland; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014871:Water Microbiology; D014881:Water Supply / Q000032:analysis* / Q000592:standards
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D008567:Membranes, Artificial