title: Environmental Legionella spp. collected in urban test sites of South East Queensland, Australia, are virulent to human macrophages in vitro.
abstract: Legionellae are frequent contaminants of potable water supplies, resulting in sporadic infections and occasional outbreaks. Isolates of Legionella were collected from urban test sites within South East Queensland and evaluated for their virulence potential in vitro. Two strains (from the species Legionella londiniensis and Legionella quinlivanii) were demonstrated to have the ability to infect human macrophages, while a strain from the species Legionella anisa did not maintain an infection over the same time course. This suggests that the spectrum of urban environmentally associated Legionella with potential to cause human disease might be greater than currently considered.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland, Australia. Electronic address: amba.lawrence@qut.edu.au.
authors.forename: Amba
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lawrence
authors.affiliation: Niche Food Microbiology, Queensland, Australia. Electronic address: sofroni@nichefoodmicro.com.au.
authors.forename: Sofroni
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eglezos
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland, Australia. Electronic address: w.huston@qut.edu.au.
authors.forename: Wilhelmina
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huston
mesh_terms: D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002947:Cities; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D007875:Legionella / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000382:microbiology*; D011793:Queensland; D014774:Virulence
keywords: Environmental; Legionella; Pathogenicity