The major species of Legionella of public
health significance is Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1
(eg a contaminated cooling tower may cause multiple cases of infection).
In addition to culture of respiratory specimens, diagnosis of
L.pneumophila sg1 infection can be performed by detection
of Legionella cell-wall antigen in urine. This latter assay has
become routine in the management of patients with acute, community-acquired
pneumonia.
At our laboratory, testing is performed on a daily basis, with
specimens referred from public and private hospitals in Melbourne
and country regions in Victoria, southern New South Wales and
Tasmania. All positive results are immediately notified to the
Department of Human Services Victoria, for case follow-up and
identification of any clustering of cases.
