BIOLOGIA 12

An outbreak of Legionnaires

Nuno Correia 2014

Nuno Correia 2014

Nuno Correia 2014

Legionella pneumophila is a Gram-negative bacterium that causes legionellosis or Legionnaires' disease. L.

pneumophila is a facultative intracellular bacterium that can invade and replicate inside amoebae in the
environment. In humans, L. pneumophila invades and replicates in macrophages.
Upon phagocytosis by alveolar macrophages, L. pneumophila delivers a large number of bacterial proteins,
or e...ffectors, into the host-cell cytosol through the Type IVB secretion system known as Dot/Icm to inject
effector proteins into the host. Some of those effectors help L. pneumophila redirect proteins and
membrane material of the infected cell to its Legionella-containing vacuole (LCV), thereby establishing a
protective compartment to shield themselves from being destroyed by host lysosomes. In this protected
compartment, the bacteria multiply. Formation and maintenance of the vacuole are crucial for pathogensis.
Once the nutrients of the host macrophage are depleted, the newly replicated bacteria move into their
transmissive phase, lyse the host macrophage and restart the process of infection. In the transmissive form,
they become motile and thick-walled allowing them to survive in the face of environmental fluctuations.

Today, there is a report of "An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease" that "has killed at least four people just
outside the Portuguese capital Lisbon and left dozens hospitalized, with the source of the outbreak yet to be
found.

Nuno Correia 2014