A cluster of Legionnaires' disease caused by Legionella longbeachae linked to potting compost in Scotland, 2008-2009

Abstract

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Comparison of Legionella longbeachae and Legionella pneumophila cases in Scotland; implications for diagnosis, treatment and public health response

“…Serum and respiratory secretions from patients with moderate to severe community-acquired pneumonia and no discernible cause should be sent for PCR and culture, particularly if the case has a connection to gardening (Pravinkumar et al, 2010). Earlier detection would reduce delays in targeted, optimal treatment, for while current empirical therapy for severe community-acquired pneumonia (a combination of a macrolide and a b-lactam) is active against Legionella species, animal studies and a recent systematic review and meta-analysis suggest that fluoroquinolones may have higher activity against Legionella species (Burdet et al, 2014;Pedro-Botet and Yu, 2006).…”

“…1). Previous studies have found that cases are commonly keen gardeners with exposure to plant-growing media (Pravinkumar et al, 2010;Potts et al, 2013). Indeed, in a survey of 24 bagged potting composts in the UK, 16 % of the plant-growing media contained L. longbeachae (Currie et al, 2014).…”

“…Accordingly, the aim of this study was to determine the differences, if any, to those infected with L. pneumophila in relation to patient characteristics, outcomes, signs and symptoms. It is important to appreciate these differences to aid in timely, appropriate diagnosis and the detection of potential outbreaks with resultant source elucidation (Pravinkumar et al, 2010;Potts et al, 2013).…”

Legionella longbeachae serogroup 1 infections linked to potting compost

“…A number of studies have investigated the diversity of Legionella species in compost (Steele et al, 1990;Hughes & Steele, 1994;O'Connor et al, 2007;Lindsay et al, 2009;Casati et al, 2009;Pravinkumar et al, 2010) and found a variety of species in high numbers, ranging from 10 3 to 10 5 c.f.u. g 21 .…”

Legionella, springtime and potting soils

“…A second paper in this issue describes a possible association between handling potting soil and infection with L. longbeachae [3]. As pointed out by the Scottish authors, this has long been well known and documented in Australia and New Zealand.…”