Factors influencing persistence of Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 in laboratory cocultures

BMC Microbiology

Maria De Giusti¹  Lucia Marinelli¹  Alessia Cottarelli¹  Angelo G Solimini¹ 

[1] Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazza A. Moro 5, Rome, 00185, Italy

关键词: Iron;    Hospital;    Drinking water;    Heterotrophic plate count;    Planktonic phase;    Biofilm;    Pseudomonas aeruginosa;    Legionella pneumophila;   

Others  :  1137756
DOI  :  10.1186/s12866-014-0249-8

 received in 2014-05-23, accepted in 2014-09-17,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Risk for infections from Legionella pneumophila for immunocompromised individuals increases greatly when this species is present within the biofilm of the water distribution systems of hospitals or other health facilities. Multiplication and persistence of Legionella may dependent also upon planktonic growth in alternative to sessile growth. Here we compared the persistence of L. pneumophila serogroup 1 in experimental planktonic co-cultures subsided with iron, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other non Legionella bacteria (quantified as Heterotrophic Plate Count, HPC at 37°C), isolated from drinking water sources of a large hospital.

Results

Concentrations of L. pneumophila showed a decreasing pattern with incubation time in all co-cultures, the degree of reduction depending on the experimental treatment. In co-cultures with added P. aeruginosa, no L. pneumophila was detectable already after 4 days of incubation. In contrast in co-cultures without P. aeruginosa, HPC but not iron were significant factors in explaining the pattern of L. pneumophila, although the HPC effect was different according to the incubation time (HPC x time interaction, p < 0.01).

Conclusions

Our results highlight the need of controlling for both HPC and metal constituents of the water systems of buildings used by individuals at particular risk to the effects of Legionella exposure.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Solimini et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

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