Background – Among the members of Legionellaceae, Legionella pneumophila is involved in more than 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 serological diagnosis, which is usual...

Three monoclonal antibodies (McAb) were produced against soluble antigens of Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 which was cultured on BCYE agar. The McAbs were all of the IgM isotype. The McAbs were used in the McAb-based ELISA for detection of circulating L. pneumophila antigens in 186 sera collected from patients with symptoms and signs suggestive of atypical pneumonia. The normal reference o...

Bacterial growth is influenced by several different culture conditions. Temperature is one of an essential component which regulates bacterial growth and their morphology. The influence of temperature on the length of bacteria was investigated in broth and on agar in a temperature range from 30.0 degrees C to 47.0 degrees C in 0.5 degrees C steps using a newly developed temperature gradient inc...

Opsonophagocytic killing of some bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) by phagocytes is enhanced by previous brief exposure of the organism to antibiotics. We studied the regrowth of Legionella pneumophila previously pretreated with levofloxacin, erythromycin and/or rifampicin in human monocytes. The MIC for the L. pneumophila isolate of levofloxacin, erythromycin and rifampi...

Recently, an immunochromatographic assay for rapid qualitative detection of Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 antigen in urine specimens has become available (NOW Legionella urinary antigen test; Binax, Portland, Maine). We have previously shown that this test is of clinical value in providing a rapid diagnosis of Legionnaires’ disease, especially in patients with severe community-acquired pne...

Methods Twenty hospitals (Hospitals A to T) throughout Taiwan (8 in northern, 2 in central, 7 in southern, 2 in eastern Taiwan, and one in rural island) were cultured for Legionella. We followed the standardized protocol to perform environmental cultures using (1) water samples; (2) BCYE and DGVP culture media; (3) latex agglutination test (LAX) and direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) technique f...

In this study, we investigated the distribution of Legionella species in water cooling towers located in different parts of Malaysia to obtain information that may inform public health policies for the prevention of legionellosis. A total of 20 water samples were collected from 11 cooling towers located in three different states in east, west and south Malaysia. The samples were concentrated by...