Investigation of Legionella Contamination in Bath Water Samples by Culture, Amoebic Co-Culture, and Real-Time Quantitative PCR Methods

Akiko Edagawa, Akio Kimura, Takako Kawabuchi-Kurata, Shinichi Adachi, Katsunori Furuhata and Hiroshi Miyamoto
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Akiko Edagawa: Division of Environment Health, Osaka Prefectural Institute of Public Health, Osaka 537-0025, Japan
Akio Kimura: Division of Planning and Coordination, Osaka Prefectural Institute of Public Health, Osaka 537-0025, Japan
Takako Kawabuchi-Kurata: Division of Virology, Osaka Prefectural Institute of Public Health, Osaka 537-0025, Japan
Shinichi Adachi: Division of Environment Health, Osaka Prefectural Institute of Public Health, Osaka 537-0025, Japan
Katsunori Furuhata: School of Life and Environmental Science, Azabu University, Kanagawa 252-5201, Japan
Hiroshi Miyamoto: Division of Microbiology, Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Saga University, Saga 849-8501, Japan

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: We investigated Legionella contamination in bath water samples, collected from 68 bathing facilities in Japan, by culture, culture with amoebic co-culture, real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR), and real-time qPCR with amoebic co-culture. Using the conventional culture method, Legionella pneumophila was detected in 11 samples (11/68, 16.2%). Contrary to our expectation, the culture method with the amoebic co-culture technique did not increase the detection rate of Legionella (4/68, 5.9%). In contrast, a combination of the amoebic co-culture technique followed by qPCR successfully increased the detection rate (57/68, 83.8%) compared with real-time qPCR alone (46/68, 67.6%). Using real-time qPCR after culture with amoebic co-culture, more than 10-fold higher bacterial numbers were observed in 30 samples (30/68, 44.1%) compared with the same samples without co-culture. On the other hand, higher bacterial numbers were not observed after propagation by amoebae in 32 samples (32/68, 47.1%). Legionella was not detected in the remaining six samples (6/68, 8.8%), irrespective of the method. These results suggest that application of the amoebic co-culture technique prior to real-time qPCR may be useful for the sensitive detection of Legionella from bath water samples. Furthermore, a combination of amoebic co-culture and real-time qPCR might be useful to detect viable and virulent Legionella because their ability to invade and multiply within free-living amoebae is considered to correlate with their pathogenicity for humans. This is the first report evaluating the efficacy of the amoebic co-culture technique for detecting Legionella in bath water samples.

Keywords: Legionella; amoebic co-culture; Acanthamoeba; bath water; intracellular growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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