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The Journal of the Japanese Society for Clinical Microbiology |
Biblioraphy Information
| ArticleTitle |
About the Appearance Situation of Genus Legionella in the Cooling Tower -Necessity of Watch through Year- |
| Language |
J |
| AuthorList |
Kazunori Nakata, Kouji Hashimoto, Kazunori Oyamada, Masahide Miyazaki, Chiyoko Tanamachi, Takako Itoyama, Rie Horita, Nao Hukushima, Kimitaka Sagawa, MD |
| Affiliation |
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Kurume University Hospital |
| Publication |
J.J.C.M.: 15 (3), 107-110, 2005 |
| Received |
March 3, 2005 |
| Accepted |
June 10, 2005 |
| Abstract |
In this study we investigated seasonal changes of Genus Legionella in the cooling towers of air-conditioners installed at Kurume University Hospital, using a filtration-concentration method. The study period was from July 2003 to December 2004. Serotypes of the Legionella pneumophila were also determined. We tested water obtained from 6 cooling towers each month for 18 months. The detection incidence of Legionella pneumophila was 22.2%, 94.4%, 33.3%, 83.3%, 88.9%, and 77.8%, respectively. We detected more than 105 CFU/100 ml Legionella pneumophila twice, and more than 105 CFU/100 ml Legionella pneumophila 6 times during the course of this study. Serotypes detected were type 1 (57.0%), type 4 (2.5%), type 6 (39.2%), and type 13 (1.3%). These results strongly suggest that it will be necessary to carefully monitor seasonal changes of Legionella pneumophila in the cooling towers of the hospital air-conditioners throughout the year to prevent an outbreak of Legionella infection in the hospital. Moreover, samples of suspected Legionella-infected patients should be studied by culture methods using appropriate agarose plates, because the rapid detection kit now widely used for Genus Legionella has a low sensitivity except for Legionella pneumophila serotype 1. |
| Keywords |
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