title: Faster Legionella testing on horizon.
abstract: While the "traditional" way to measure Legionella quantitatively in water is based on a complex culture method where results can take up to 14 days, the last few years have seen the availability of very rapid real-time monitoring of the bacterium in water systems, with the development of quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), a process which gives results "within hours". To date, however, a lack of consensus on how to interpret such results in relation to those from culture has been a stumbling block, although, as Susan Pearson, a freelance journalist and public relations consultant specialising in medicine and the environment, reports, the positive results of a recent multi-centre European study mean this could soon all change.
authors.affiliation: susan@wordways.co.uk
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pearson
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007875:Legionella / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007876:Legionellosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013997:Time Factors