In Greece standard tests are performed in the watering and cooling systems of hotels’ units either as part of the surveillance scheme or following human infection. The purpose of this study was to establish the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) distributions of environmental Legionella isolates for six antimicrobials commonly used for the treatment of Legionella infections, by MIC-test methodology. Water samples were collected from 2004 to 2011 from 124 hotels from the four prefectures of Crete (Greece). Sixty-eight (68) Legionella isolates, comprising L. pneumophila serogroups 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 12, 13, 15, L. anisa, L. rubrilucens, L. maceachernii, L. quinlivanii, L. oakridgensis, and L. taurinensis, were included in the study. MIC-tests were performed on buffered charcoal yeast extract with α-ketoglutarate, L-cysteine, and ferric pyrophosphate. The MICs were read after 2 days of incubation at 36 ± 1 °C at 2.5% CO2. A large distribution in MICs was recorded for each species and each antibiotic tested. Rifampicin proved to be the most potent antibiotic regardless of the Legionella spp.; tetracycline appeared to have the least activity on our environmental isolates. The MIC-test approach is an easy, although not so cost-effective, way to determine MICs in Legionella spp. These data should be kept in mind especially since these Legionella species may cause human disease.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
Research Article|
April 16 2014
Minimum inhibitory concentration distribution in environmental Legionella spp. isolates
Vassilios Sandalakis;
Vassilios Sandalakis
2Regional Laboratory of Public Health, Medical School, Heraklion, Crete, Greece
Search for other works by this author on:
Dimosthenis Chochlakis;
Dimosthenis Chochlakis
2Regional Laboratory of Public Health, Medical School, Heraklion, Crete, Greece
Search for other works by this author on:
Ioannis Goniotakis;
Ioannis Goniotakis
1Laboratory of Clinical Bacteriology, Parasitology, Zoonoses and Geographical Medicine, Voutes – Staurakia 71110, Heraklion, Crete, Greece
Search for other works by this author on:
Yannis Tselentis;
Yannis Tselentis
2Regional Laboratory of Public Health, Medical School, Heraklion, Crete, Greece
Search for other works by this author on:
Anna Psaroulaki
1Laboratory of Clinical Bacteriology, Parasitology, Zoonoses and Geographical Medicine, Voutes – Staurakia 71110, Heraklion, Crete, Greece
E-mail: [email protected]
Search for other works by this author on:
J Water Health (2014) 12 (4): 678–685.
Article history
Received:
November 07 2013
Accepted:
March 23 2014
Citation
Vassilios Sandalakis, Dimosthenis Chochlakis, Ioannis Goniotakis, Yannis Tselentis, Anna Psaroulaki; Minimum inhibitory concentration distribution in environmental Legionella spp. isolates. J Water Health 1 December 2014; 12 (4): 678–685. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wh.2014.217
Download citation file: