Which method is best for identification of Legionella pneumophila?
PCR is usually considered to be a good method for bacterial detection as it is simple, rapid, sensitive and specific.
What is the specimen of choice for isolating Legionella?
Diagnostic tests for Legionella infection. Legionellae can be isolated from a variety of sample types, although lower respiratory tract secretions (e.g., sputum and bronchoscopy samples) are the samples of choice.
How do you measure Legionella?
The original “gold standard” method to quantitate legionella in both drinking water and environmental samples is the direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) method developed by CDC in 1978. The DFA method has become more specific and sensitive by using monoclonal fluorescent antibody specific for several serogroups of L.
What is Legionella urinary antigen test?
The most commonly used laboratory test for diagnosis of Legionnaires’ disease is the urinary antigen test (UAT), which detects a molecule of the Legionella bacterium in urine. If the patient has pneumonia and the test is positive, then you should consider the patient to have Legionnaires’ disease.
How do you collect urine from a Legionella antigen?
Aspirate the urine and place it in a sterile container. Do not collect urine from the collection bag. As antigen is detected and identified the information is made available to the health care provider. Refrigerate all samples until they can be transported quickly to the laboratory.
When should you test for Legionella?
The make-up water and cooling tower water needs to be tested for both microbial activity and legionella bacteria. Cooling towers should be tested for legionella at a minimum three month intervals unless there are problems, when more regular testing may be needed until things are resolved.
How do urine antigen tests work?
By capitalizing on the concentration of shed antigen from a variety of pathogens in the kidneys for excretion in the urine, urinary antigen testing can be used to obtain rapid test results related to respiratory infection, independent of an invasive collection such as a bronchoalveolar lavage.
What is urine antigen test?
The urine antigen test is a rapid, relatively inexpensive, and practical test for the detection of L pneumophila antigen excreted in the urine or present in pleural fluid. The primary disadvantage of urinary antigen testing is that it detects only L pneumophila serogroup 1.
Is Legionella intracellular or extracellular?
Legionella pneumophila is a facultative intracellular pathogen which replicates within macrophages and monocytes and finally cause a severe pneumonia known as Legionnaires’ disease.
