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Clinical Applications of Immunoassays
Published in Richard O’Kennedy, Caroline Murphy, Immunoassays, 2017
Legionella is a common cause of both community- and hospital-acquired pneumonia. It is better known as Legionnaires’ disease, which manifests as ‘flu-like’ symptoms preceding a dry cough and is of particular importance in immunocompromised patients, where the infection is most severe. Legionnaires’ disease is often diagnosed by determining the Legionella pneumophila urinary antigen rather than by direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) staining or culture [35]. The urinary antigen test is an enzyme immunoassay with high specificity of >99% and sensitivity of 70–80% for Legionnaires’ disease. One of the main disadvantages of this test is that it is only useful for the diagnosis of the Legionella pneumophila group 1 serogroup. Nonetheless, this serogroup accounts for 80% of Legionnaires’ disease acquired in the community.
Biological Profiles in Drinking Water
Published in Edwin E. Geldreich, Microbial Quality of Water Supply in Distribution Systems, 2020
Legionella pneumophila is an important waterborne opportunistic pathogen that causes Legionnaire’s disease in susceptible individuals exposed to contaminated aerosols from shower baths and air-conditioner heat exchanges. The respiratory disease results in a complex colonization of the body that is responsible for pneumonia with significant mortality rates among senior citizens. Pontiac fever, another illness caused by legionellae, is a nonpneumonic, nonfatal, and self-limiting disease. Apparently, there is no human carrier state or reservoir for legionellae bacteria in warm-blooded animals.
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Published in Maria Csuros, Csaba Csuros, Klara Ver, Microbiological Examination of Water and Wastewater, 2018
Maria Csuros, Csaba Csuros, Klara Ver
One of the most prominent examples of infections caused by microorganisms in buildings would be the occurrence of Legionnaires’ disease. For the most part Legionnaires’ disease has been associated with the infiltration into the building environment of aerosols containing Legionella pneumophila from external sources such as cooling towers. Other airborne bacteria such as Neisseria meningitididis and Hemophilus influenza are responsible for illness outbreaks in day-care centers and schools, but they do not appear to be transmitted by recirculated, conditioned air.
On the interpretation of bioaerosol exposure measurements and impacts on health
Published in Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 2019
Hamza Mbareche, Lidia Morawska, Caroline Duchaine
Infectious diseases are caused by bacteria, fungi, and viruses. When any of these become airborne, they can be transmitted to humans via the air. Among bacteria, legionellosis, tuberculosis, and anthrax are infectious diseases that constitute significant public health concerns due to their infectivity even at low doses. Legionella pneumophila, the etiological agent of legionellosis, can be aerosolized from contaminated water (Rowbotham 1980). Tuberculosis patients can transmit Mycobacterium tuberculosis in droplet nuclei by coughing, sneezing, and talking (Pearson et al. 1992). Anthrax, which is often linked to bioterrorism, is caused by the inhalation of Bacillus anthracis spores (Jernigan et al. 2001). Other examples of bacterial infection through aerosols include Chlamydia psittaci and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Lyczak, Cannon, and Pier 2000; Morawska 2006). The most common invasive fungal infections are aspergillosis (Aspergillus fumigatus), candidiasis (Candida albicans), cryptococcosis (Cryptococcus neoformans), mucormycosis (Rhizopus oryzae), pneumocystis (Pneumocystis jirovecii), coccidioidomycosis (Coccodioides immitis), histoplasmosis (Histoplasma capsulatum), paracoccodioidomycosis (Paracoccidioides brasilliensis), and penicilliosis (Penicillium marneffei), all of which can be transmitted through aerosol spore exposure (Brown et al. 2012). Finally, viruses that are readily transmitted by bioaerosols include severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus, enteric viruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), hantavirus, varicella–zoster virus, mumps virus, rubella virus, and influenza A and B viruses (Bonifait et al. 2015; Gershon 2008; Hjelle and Glass 2000; Lindsley et al. 2010; Matricardi et al. 2000; Tellier 2009; Teltsch and Katzenelson 1978; Uyeki, Bresee 2007; Booth et al. 2005). It was suggested that other viruses, such as norovirus, could reach human’s digestive system through inhalation and swallowing (Bonifait et al. 2015). Although obvious evidence of viral airborne transmission is available, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are still skeptical about the subject of airborne transmission from one patient to the other (CDC 2018).
Adhesion of Legionella pneumophila on glass and plumbing materials commonly used in domestic water systems
Published in International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 2018
Abdelwahid Assaidi, Mostafa Ellouali, Hassan Latrache, Mustapha Mabrouki, Mohammed Timinouni, Hafida Zahir, Safae Tankiouine, Abouddihaj Barguigua, El Mostafa Mliji
Legionella pneumophila is a Gram-negative and pathogen bacterium which causes two distinct types of disease : Legionnaire’s Disease (LD) a severe form of pneumonia, as well as Pontiac Fever which includes a flu-like and self-limiting illness; resulting from the inhalation of aerosols loaded with bacteria (Pierre et al. 2017; Springston and Yocavitch 2017). In the environment, L. pneumophila is mostly found in natural and artificial water systems, it’s frequently detected in the plumbing systems of different institutions, such as hospitals, hotels and health resorts (Tesauro et al. 2010; Oder et al. 2015), which could adhere to various surfaces, survive within biofilms and free-living amoebae (Borella et al. 2005; Temmerman et al. 2006; Taylor et al. 2009). It is estimated that 95 % of the overall biomass in water systems is located on the inner surface of the pipe walls as a biofilm; while only 5 % occurs in the water phase (Flemming et al. 2002). One the many advantages of biofilms to Legionella is protection from the stressful environmental conditions (Borella et al. 2005). Biofilms on pipes surfaces are considered to be the most important source of water contamination and a potential risk to the human’s health (Abdel-Nour et al. 2013). It is known that the most strategy for bacteria to live is adhering onto surface and forming biofilms (Aparna and Yadav 2008). Bacterial attachment to surface is one of the first stages in the development of biofilm. As established biofilms are difficult to eradicate, so prevention of the bacterial adhesion is an alternative approach to control biofilm formation. The mechanisms of attachment under different conditions need to be established. Several studies are reported that the adhesion of bacteria to surfaces is influenced by many factors, the most important of which are the physicochemical properties and interactions between the support and the bacterial surface including hydrophobicity, electron donor/acceptor character, electrostatic, Van der Waals and Lewis acid/base interactions (Bellon-Fontaine et al. 1996; Briandet et al. 1999; Krepsky et al. 2003; Pagedar et al. 2010; Hamadi et al. 2014). Moreover, the physical properties of materials (roughness, nature …), growth medium and environmental conditions (pH, temperature, ionic strength) play also a crucial role in bacterial adhesion process (Donlan 2002; Bengourram et al. 2009; Oder et al. 2015). The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of physicochemical properties of substratum and materials roughness on the adhesion of L. pneumophila serogroup1 and L. pneumophila serogroup2–15 on glass and six plumbing materials commonly used in the building water systems such as galvanized steel, stainless steel, copper, Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), Polypropylene Random Copolymer (PPR) and Cross-linked polyethylene (PEX-c).