Studies on Legionella show a continuum from environment to human disease. Legionellosis is caused by Legionella species acquired from environmental sources, principally water sources such as cooling towers, where Legionella grows intracellularly in protozoa within biofilms. Aquatic biofilms, which are widespread not only in nature, but also in medical and dental devices, are ecological niches i...

objective: among the members of legionellaceae, legionella pneumophila is involved in 95% of cases of severe pneumonia. isolation of the causative agent from bronchoalveolar lavage (bal) fluid specimen is a delicate process and also time-consuming. moreover, it has been shown that some legionella strains may be viable but cannot be cultured. the aim of this study was comparison of culture and p...

Legionella pneumophila is one of the causative agent of pneumonia in human being. In recent years many reports has been come from different parts of world regarding infectivity of this organism. This disease occurs almost because of contamination of air conditioning systems. For the purpose of assessment of the legionella pneumophila in pneumonic patients, 200 specimen from sputum and tracheo-b...

BACKGROUND It is unclear how often patients with pneumonia are assessed for Legionella in endemic areas. Additionally, the sensitivity of the IDSA/ATS criteria for recommended Legionella testing is undefined. METHODS We performed a single-center, retrospective study of patients diagnosed with Legionella pneumonia at our hospital to determine: 1) how often Legionella diagnostic testing is obta...

Confirmation of a culture as Legionella when it is unreactive with available serologic reagents involves tests that are impractical in most clinical laboratories. A nucleic acid probe that hybridizes only to members of the genus Legionella was recently prepared for marketing by Gen-Probe, Inc., San Diego, Calif. We tested 215 Legionella strains, representing 22 species, and 84 non-Legionella st...

Bacteria of the genus Legionella cause water-based infections resulting in severe pneumonia. Here we analyze and compare the bacterial microbiome of sputum samples from pneumonia patients in relation to the presence and abundance of the genus Legionella. The prevalence of Legionella species was determined by culture, PCR, and Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). Nine sputum samples out of the 133 ...

It is not known whether rainfall increases the risk of sporadic cases of Legionella pneumonia. We sought to test this hypothesis in a prospective observational cohort study of non-immunosuppressed adults hospitalized for community-acquired pneumonia (1995-2011). Cases with Legionella pneumonia were compared with those with non-Legionella pneumonia. Using daily rainfall data obtained from the re...