Differential Legionella spp. survival between intracellular and extracellular forms in thermal spring environments.
Legionella are commonly found in natural and man-made aquatic environments and are able to inhabit various species of protozoa. The relationship between the occurrence of Legionella spp. within protozoa and human legionellosis has been demonstrated; however, the proportions of intracellular and extracellular Legionella spp. in the aquatic environment were rarely reported. In this study, we developed a new method to differentiate intracellular and extracellular Legionella spp. in the aquatic environment. Water samples from three thermal spring recreational areas in southeastern Taiwan were collected and analyzed. For each water sample, concurrent measurements were performed for Legionella spp. and their free-living amoebae hosts. The overall detection rate was 32 % (16/50) for intracellular Legionella spp. and 12 % (6/50) for extracellular Legionella spp. The most prevalent host of Legionella spp. was Hartmannella vermiformis. The identified Legionella spp. differed substantially between intracellular and extracellular forms. The results showed that it may be necessary to differentiate intracellular and extracellular forms of Legionella spp.
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Po-Min
PM
Kao
Min-Che
MC
Tung
Bing-Mu
BM
Hsu
Shih-Yung
SY
Hsu
Jen-Te
JT
Huang
Jorn-Hon
JH
Liu
Yu-Li
YL
Huang
D000048:Acanthamoeba / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000382:microbiology; D058491:Bacterial Load / Q000379:methods*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D006249:Hartmannella / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000382:microbiology; D045482:Hot Springs / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000469:parasitology*; D007875:Legionella / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D016840:Lobosea / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000382:microbiology*; D009253:Naegleria / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000382:microbiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology; D013624:Taiwan