ADVANCEMENT OF THE SCIENCE
TABLE 4
Positive Environmental Samples via qPCR, Rapid qPCR, and Standard Culture (ISO 11731) for Legionella in New York During the 2019–2021 Outbreak
Sample Type
# of Samples Collected
Legionella spp. via qPCR
Lp via qPCR
Legionella spp. via Standard Culture**
Lp via Standard Culture ***
Lp via Rapid qPCR
Wastewater treatment plant
3
0
1
0
1
0
Cooling tower basin Cooling tower swab Patient case residence
22 10 29
8 0
4 0 0 1 2 0
5 0 0 1 1 0
9 2 0 1 2 0
3 2 0 0 0 0
12
Hot tub
2 3 5
0 0 1
Hot tub swab
Other nonpotable water source *
Total
74
21/45
8/45
7/45
15/74
5/30
*Noncooling tower swab samples (e.g., decorative fountains, baseball field irrigation system). **One laboratory did not speciate culture results; those samples were considered positive for Legionella spp. ***Some culture samples were split and submitted to numerous labs. Preference was given to the sample reported as positive if results did not match. Overall, seven cooling tower samples were positive for serogroup 1 and two samples were positive for serogroup 5. Note. Totals show the number of positive results out of the total number of samples split for analysis. Lp = Legionella pneumophila ; qPCR = quantitative polymerase chain reaction.
TABLE 5
Standard Culture, qPCR, and Whole Genome Sequencing Results From 2021 Environmental Samples
WGS Link
Date
Sample
Standard Culture (ISO 11731)(CFU/ml)
Standard qPCR
WC-EBL (CFU/ml)
Cube qPCR (GU/ml)
6/14/2021 6/16/2021 7/16/2021 7/16/2021 7/16/2021 7/16/2021 7/16/2021 7/16/2021 8/12/2021 8/12/2021 8/12/2021 8/12/2021
Cooling tower E
16 (Lp1)
– –
– –
– –
No No No No No
Bar basement spigot
ND ND
Tower 2 (E facility)
Legionella spp. Legionella spp.
ND 7.2
ND ND
Cooling tower E
30 (Lp5)
Tower 3 (E facility)
ND
Lp1 Lp1 Lp1 Lp1
20
11
Hot tub water sample Hot tub air/water swab Hot tub filter swab Other cooling tower basin 1 Hot tub water sample
5 (Lp1)
0.8 ND
– – – – – – –
Yes Yes Yes
– –
3,450
12 (Lp1)
–
–
No
ND ND ND
– – –
– – –
No No No
Hot tub swab
Other cooling tower basin 2 Other cooling tower basin 3
8/12/2021
ND
–
–
–
No
Note. Lp = Legionella pneumophila ; ND = not detected; qPCR = quantitative polymerase chain reaction; WC-EBL = Wadsworth Center Environmental Biology Laboratory; WGS = whole genome sequencing.
20
Volume 86 • Number 9
Powered by FlippingBook