Seeding and Establishment of Legionella pneumophila in Hospitals: Implications for Genomic Investigations of Nosocomial Legionnaires' Disease.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Legionnaires' disease is an important cause of hospital-acquired pneumonia and is caused by infection with the bacterium Legionella. Because current typing methods often fail to resolve the infection source in possible nosocomial cases, we aimed to determine whether whole-genome sequencing (WGS) could be used to support or refute suspected links between cases and hospitals. We focused on cases involving a major nosocomial-associated strain, L. pneumophila sequence type (ST) 1.

Methods

WGS data from 229 L. pneumophila ST1 isolates were analyzed, including 99 isolates from the water systems of 17 hospitals and 42 clinical isolates from patients with confirmed or suspected hospital-acquired infections, as well as isolates obtained from or associated with community-ac

SUBMITTER: David S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5399934 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature