Authors: Ioanna G Alexandropoulou Spyridon Ntougias Theocharis G Konstantinidis Theodoros A Parasidis Maria Panopoulou Theodoros C Constantinidis
Publish Date: 2015/02/25
Volume: 22, Issue: 10, Pages: 7628-7640
Abstract
A 4year proactive environmental surveillance of Legionella spp in the water distribution and cooling systems of five healthcare facilities was carried out as part of the strategy for the prevention of hospitalacquired Legionnaires’ disease in Northeastern Greece Legionella spp were detected in 71 out of 458 collected samples The majority of strains belonged to Legionella pneumophila serogroups 2–15 750 while all L pneumophila serogroup 1 strains 236 were isolated from a single hospital The highest percentage of positive samples was found in distal sites 194 while no Legionella strains were detected in cooling systems Each hospital was colonized at least once with L pneumophila while remedial actions resulted in significant reduction of Legionella concentration The molecular epidemiology of environmental L pneumophila strains was also investigated using random amplified polymorphic DNA RAPD and multigene sequencebased analysis Based on RAPD patterns L pneumophila serogroups 2–15 and serogroup 1 strains were classified into 24 and 9 operational taxonomic units OTUs respectively Sequencing of housekeeping and diversifying pressurerelated genes recommended by European Working Group for Legionella Infections EWGLI revealed not only a high intraspecies variability but also the circulation and persistence of one specific genotyping profile in the majority of hospitals This study highlights the necessity for diachronic surveillance of Legionella in healthcare facilities by adopting both cultural and molecular methodsThe authors greatly appreciate Dr Norman Fry for authorizing access to the EWGLI SBT database They also like to thank the environmental health officers and the hospitals’ infection committee of Northeastern Greece for their cooperation during the study period
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