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Evaluation of the usefulness of a new direct immunofluorescence assay (ScanVIT‐Legionella ™ ) for monitoring hospital water systems contaminated with Legionella spp.
Author(s) -
Ditommaso S.,
Giacomuzzi M.,
Gentile M.,
Zotti C. M.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
letters in applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.698
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1472-765X
pISSN - 0266-8254
DOI - 10.1111/j.1472-765x.2010.02797.x
Subject(s) - legionella , microbiology and biotechnology , legionella pneumophila , direct fluorescent antibody , contamination , biology , bacteria , veterinary medicine , medicine , antibody , ecology , immunology , genetics
Aims: To compare the efficiency of the ScanVIT‐Legionella ™ test (Vermicon, Munich, Germany) vs a conventional culture method for the quantification of Legionella spp. in hospital water samples in daily hospital practice. Methods and Results: The detection of Legionella spp. takes place on a cultivated filter brought into contact with dye‐marked gene probes. The results are analysed under fluorescence microscopy. Bacteria that light up green belong to the genus Legionella ; those that light up both green and red belong to the species Legionella pneumophila . Our results showed that the ScanVIT test has a sensitivity of 90%; agreement between the two methods was 82%. In the 48 samples that tested positive with both methods, the Legionella concentration detected by the culture method was consistently higher. A statistically significant difference between the results obtained with the two test methods emerged at the Wilcoxon test ( P < 0·001). Conclusion: The ScanVIT test may be recommended for investigating the presence of Legionella by qualitative testing. Significance and Impact of the Study: Given the simplicity of colony identification by fluorescence, the ScanVIT test can be used in laboratories where staffs are not experienced in identifying typical colonies of Legionella .