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Water Cultures Are More Sensitive Than Swab Cultures for the Detection of Environmental Legionella

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 November 2017

Brooke K. Decker ,
Patricia L. Harris ,
Diana L. Toy ,
Robert R. Muder ,
Ali F. Sonel  and
Cornelius J. Clancy
Brooke K. Decker*
Affiliation:
Infectious Diseases Section, Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Patricia L. Harris
Affiliation:
Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Diana L. Toy
Affiliation:
Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Ali F. Sonel
Affiliation:
Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Cornelius J. Clancy
Affiliation:
Infectious Diseases Section, Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
*
Address correspondence to Brooke K. Decker, MD, Infectious Diseases Section, Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System, University Drive C, Pittsburgh, PA, 15240 (brooke.decker@va.gov).
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Abstract

Water cultures were significantly more sensitive than concurrently collected swab cultures (n=2,147 each) in detecting Legionella pneumophila within a Veterans Affairs healthcare system. Sensitivity for water versus swab cultures was 90% versus 30% overall, 83% versus 48% during a nosocomial Legionnaires’ disease outbreak, and 93% versus 22% post outbreak.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2018;39:108–110

Type
Concise Communications
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , January 2018 , pp. 108 - 110
Copyright
© 2017 by The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. All rights reserved 

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Footnotes

PREVIOUS PRESENTATION. This work was presented as a poster abstract (no. 642) at the Spring SHEA conference on May 20, 2016, in Atlanta, Georgia.

References

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