Legionella

Legionella pneumophila
Gram negative rod
Stains poorly

Legionella pneumophila
Legionnaire's disease
pneumonia
fatal if not treated
erythromycin
Pontiac fever
flu-like
milder
self-limiting
myalgia (muscle pain)
no pneumonia
3

Transmission
contaminated air
infected water supply

not spread person-person

Legionella pneumophila
environmental reservoir
pools of stagnant water
hot water towers
air conditioning systems
intracellular growth, protozoa
facultative intracellular pathogen
humans

Legionnaires disease
small epidemics
healthy people
more frequently
sick or elderly
hospitals
immunocompromised
6

Pathogenesis of Legionella infection

Identification of Legionella
no growth conventional agar
e.g. sheep blood agar
media must contain
iron
cysteine
e.g. charcoal yeast extract agar
isolation clinical specimens
poor
8

Legionellae
Legionella pneumophila
several serogroups
most infections, serogroup 1
Legionella micdadei
Pittsburg pneumonia
Other Legionella
occasional disease
legionellosis
10

Identification of Legionella
fatty acid profiling
DNA-DNA hybridization
16S rRNA sequence
antigen detection in urine
serology
11