Four-Year Environmental Surveillance Program of Legionella spp. in One of Palermo’s Largest Hospitals

Microorganisms

Nicola Serra¹  Orazia Diquattro²  Teresa Fasciana³  Anna Giammanco³  Mario Palermo⁴  Elena Galia⁵  Maria Rita Tricoli⁵  Ignazio Arrigo⁵ 

[1] Department of Public Health, University Federico II of Naples, 80131 Napoli, Italy;Laboratory of Microbiology, A. O. Ospedali Riuniti “Villa Sofia-Cervello”, 90100 Palermo, Italy;Legionella Reference Laboratory, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy;Sicilian Health Department, Public Health and Environmental Risks Service, 90127 Palermo, Italy;Unit of Microbiology, Virology and Parasitology, A.O.U. Paolo Giaccone, Via del Vespro 133, 90127 Palermo, Italy;

关键词: Legionella;    surveillance;    water system;    hospital;   

DOI  :  10.3390/microorganisms10040764

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Legionella is a ubiquitous bacterium that lives in freshwater environments and colonizes human-made water systems. Legionella pneumophila is the most virulent species, and risk factors for Legionnaires’ disease include increasing age, smoking, chronic diseases, and immunodeficiency. For this reason, it is very important to assess and monitor hospital water systems in order to prevent legionellosis. We have monitored a large hospital in Palermo for four years. To determine the presence of microorganisms, according to national guidelines, we used the culture method, which is considered the gold standard for Legionella detection. Sampling was divided into five macro-areas, and a total of 251 samples were collected during the period of investigation, 49% of which were Legionella spp.-positive and 51% were Legionella spp.-negative. Positive samples with L. pneumophila. sgr 2-15 were most frequent in the Underground (55.6%, p = 0.0184), Medicine (42.9%, p = 0.0184) and Other (63.2%, p = 0.002) areas; while positive samples for L. pneumophila sgr 1 were less frequent in the Underground (0.0%, p = 0.0184) and Surgery areas (4.5%, p = 0.033), and for Legionella anisa, were less frequent in the Medicine (4.1%, p = 0.021), Oncohematology (0.0%, p = 0.0282), and Other (0.0%, p = 0.016) areas. Finally, no significant differences were observed among the areas for each isolate considered. The surveillance carried out in these years demonstrates the importance of monitoring, which allows us to analyze the conditions of hospital facilities and, therefore, prevent Legionella spp. infections.

【 授权许可】

Unknown