PCR Testing Enables Early Detection of Legionella

by | May 22, 2022

Legionnaires’ disease is a severe pneumonia typically caused by inhalation of aerosolized water containing Legionella bacteria. These bacteria are transmitted directly from the environment, such as water from showers, hot tubs, water misters, and cooling towers that may be found in hospitals, hotels, office buildings, and military operations. In addition, the natural host for Legionella is amoeba. It has been reported that amoeba not only enhance the pathogenicity of Legionella pneumophila, but they also enable the bacteria to persist in the environment (Richards, et, al, 2013). It is also reported that Legionella in amoeba is in a state of Viable-but-not-culturable (VBNC). An effective detection method for Legionella can help to identify the infection source in a timely manner and stop a disease outbreak. The current Federally-approved testing process with the culture method for Legionella is very time consuming (5-7 days) and suffers from poor sensitivity and accuracy leading to critical therapy treatment delays and difficulty isolating the source of the infection, esp. the VBNC Legionella. To prevent Legionella growth in the amoeba, a detection method that can detect the VBNC Legionella is desperately needed for the early detection of Legionella which will enable timely disease management to prevent a disease outbreak.

At Cicadea Biotech, we have discovered an innovative way to identify live Legionella DNA by using a “Filter PCR” principle. This is an easy and quick way to isolate the live Legionella DNA from samples mixed with live and dead Legionella DNA. Our PCR detection method for the detection of live Legionella is at the validation stage and will be available for production soon. Feel free to contact us if you would like to try this product.

 

Ashley M. Richards,† Juanita E. Von Dwingelo,† Christopher T. Price and Yousef Abu Kwaik, 2013. Cellular microbiology and molecular ecology of Legionella–amoeba interaction. Virulence 4;4, 307-314.

CDC guides for Legionella: https://www.cdc.gov/legionella/index.html