Performance of Legiolert Test vs. ISO 11731 to Confirm Legionella pneumophila Contamination in Potable Water Samples

Performance of Legiolert Test vs. ISO 11731 to Confirm Legionella pneumophila Contamination in Potable Water Samples

Detection and enumeration of Legionella in water samples is of great importance for risk assessment analysis. The plate culture method is the gold standard, but has received several well-known criticisms, which have induced researchers to develop alternative methods. The purpose of this study was to...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Pathogens (Basel) Vol. 9; no. 9; p. 690
Main Authors: Scaturro, Maria, Buffoni, Matteo, Girolamo, Antonietta, Cristino, Sandra, Girolamini, Luna, Mazzotta, Marta, Bucci Sabattini, Maria Antonietta, Zaccaro, Cristina Maria, Chetti, Leonarda, Laboratory, Microbiology Arpa Novara, Bella, Antonino, Rota, Maria Cristina, Ricci, Maria Luisa
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Basel MDPI AG 23-08-2020
MDPI
Subjects:
Contamination
Drinking water
Enumeration
Epidemics
Epidemiology
Infections
ISO 11731
Laboratories
Legiolert
Legionella
Legionella pneumophila
Legionnaires' disease bacterium
Liquid culture
Methods
plate culture
potable water samples
Risk analysis
Risk assessment
Water analysis
Water sampling
United States > US
Italy
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Detection and enumeration of Legionella in water samples is of great importance for risk assessment analysis. The plate culture method is the gold standard, but has received several well-known criticisms, which have induced researchers to develop alternative methods. The purpose of this study was to compare Legionella counts obtained by the analysis of potable water samples through the plate culture method and through the IDEXX liquid culture Legiolert method. Legionella plate culture, according to ISO 11731:1998, was performed using 1 L of water. Legiolert was performed using both the 10 mL and 100 mL Legiolert protocols. Overall, 123 potable water samples were analyzed. Thirty-seven (30%) of them, positive for L. pneumophila, serogroups 1 or 2–14 by plate culture, were used for comparison with the Legiolert results. The Legiolert 10 mL test detected 34 positive samples (27.6%) and the Legiolert 100 mL test detected 37 positive samples, 27.6% and 30% respectively, out of the total samples analyzed. No significant difference was found between either the Legiolert 10 mL and Legiolert 100 mL vs. the plate culture (p = 0.9 and p = 0.3, respectively) or between the Legiolert 10 mL and Legiolert 100 mL tests (p = 0.83). This study confirms the reliability of the IDEXX Legiolert test for Legionella pneumophila detection and enumeration, as already shown in similar studies. Like the plate culture method, the Legiolert assay is also suitable for obtaining isolates for typing purposes, relevant for epidemiological investigations.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:2076-0817
2076-0817
DOI:10.3390/pathogens9090690