Abstract
Abstract
Objective: Colonization of Legionella in water systems is among the factors affecting the incidence of community and hospital-acquired pneumonia. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the presence of Legionella in the water and cooling systems of the inpatient services of the faculty of medicine hospital and the faculties of the university.
Material and Methods: The presence of Legionella was investigated in 418 water and swab samples were taken from the water and cooling systems of the inpatient services of Mersin University Faculty of Medicine Research and Practice Hospital and 11 faculties of the university between February-October 2020. Collected water and swab samples were inoculated into BCYE medium and identification at the species and serogroups by latex agglutination test. In addition, rpoB sequencing was used to confirm these isolates.
Results: Legionella were isolated in four (4.1%) of the samples collected from the inpatient services of the hospital and in three (0.9%) of the samples collected from the faculties (n=321), in total seven (1.67%) samples. One of these isolates (14.3%) was grouped as Legionella pneumophila serogroup 2-14 and six (85.7%) as Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 by latex agglutination test. Species identifications were consistent with sequence analysis results.
Conclusions: The isolation of Legionella pneumophila in samples taken from inpatient services at a higher rate than in faculties poses a great risk. Although the detection rate of Legionella in our study was low, we think that regular disinfection, follow-up and inspection of water and cooling systems may be effective in reducing Legionella-related pneumonias.