Legionella Australia

Marine plastic pollution is a major concern worldwide, but the understanding of plastisphere dynamics remains limited in the southern hemisphere. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a study in South Australia to investigate the prokaryotic community of the plastisphere and its temporal changes over 4 weeks. We submerged six plastic types (i.e., High-Density Polyethylene [HDPE], Polyvinyl chloride [PVC], Low-Density Polyethylene [LDPE], Polypropylene [PP], Polystyrene [PS] and the understudied textile, polyester [PET]) and wood in seawater and sampled them weekly to characterize the prokaryotic community using 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding...

OBJECTIVE: To identify and control a source of Legionella in Sydney CBD. METHODS: Clinical, epidemiological, environmental and genomic techniques were employed to identify cases and the source of Legionella. RESULTS: Eleven legionellosis cases were linked to Sydney CBD with a median age of 69 years. All were hospitalised and had risk factors for Legionella infection. Eight of 11 cases identified as male. Genomic analysis linked three cases to a contaminated cooling water source in Sydney CBD, with a further case infected with a similar strain to that found in Sydney CBD...

Atypical pathogens are intracellular bacteria causing community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in a significant minority of patients. Legionella spp., Chlamydia pneumoniae and psittaci , Mycoplasma pneumoniae , and Coxiella burnetii are commonly included in this category. M. pneumoniae is present in 5-8% of CAP, being the second most frequent pathogen after Streptococcus pneumoniae . Legionella pneumophila is found in 3-5% of inpatients. Chlamydia spp. and Coxiella burnetii are present in less than 1% of patients...

BACKGROUND: Legionnaires' disease is a notifiable condition in New South Wales (NSW), Australia; clinicians and laboratories are required to report the disease to NSW Health. We describe the investigation of a sporadic case associated with the use of a communal spa pool in the case's apartment building complex and the use of whole genome sequencing to examine relatedness between clinical and environmental Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 (Lp1) strains. METHODS: In February 2018, a confirmed case of Lp1 infection was notified in a man in his 60s hospitalised with pneumonia...

Objective: This study describes characteristics of the legionellosis cases occurring between 2010 and 2021 in the Northern Territory (NT), Australia. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 53 cases of legionellosis during the defined period and documented patient and clinical characteristics, diagnostics, and seasonality of infection. Results: All cases were sporadic. The incidence rate in the NT was higher than the Australian median rate (2...

Water mist systems (WMS) are used for evaporative cooling in public areas. The health risks associated with their colonization by opportunistic premise plumbing pathogens (OPPPs) is not well understood. To advance the understanding of the potential health risk of OPPPs in WMS, biofilm, water and bioaerosol samples (n = 90) from ten (10) WMS in Australia were collected and analyzed by culture and polymerase chain reaction ( PCR ) methods to detect the occurrence of five representative OPPPs: Legionella pneumophila , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Mycobacterium avium , Naegleria fowleri and Acanthamoeba ...

Although known as causes of community-acquired pneumonia and Pontiac fever, the global burden of infection caused by Legionella species other than Legionella pneumophila is under-recognised. Non- L. pneumophila legionellae have a worldwide distribution, although common testing strategies for legionellosis favour detection of L. pneumophila over other Legionella species, leading to an inherent diagnostic bias and under-detection of cases. When systematically tested for in Australia and New Zealand, L. longbeachae was shown to be a leading cause of community-acquired pneumonia...

Legionella longbeachae pneumonia is much less common than Legionella pneumophila pneumonia in most of the world and may evade timely diagnosis in settings that rely primarily on urine antigen testing, which detects Legionella pnuemophila serogroup 1 only. It is, however, widely recognized in Australia and New Zealand, where it is endemic and associated with exposure to compost and potting soils, rather than contaminated water systems as seen with L. pneumophila. L. longbeachae can cause a similar spectrum and severity of illness as L...

Legionnaires' disease is a form of atypical community-acquired pneumonia usually caused by Legionella pneumophilia, which is typically associated with exposure to tower cooling or water systems. In Australia, Legionnaires' disease is more commonly caused by Legionella longbaechae, which is typically associated with exposure to soil or compost materials, and the presence of Legionella pneumophilia is less recognized. We report a sporadic case of Legionnaires' disease caused by Legionella pneumophilia serogroup 1 that was contracted following exposure to potting mix and topsoil...

Understanding how microbial communities change with environmental degradation and restoration may offer new insights into the understudied ecology that connects humans, microbiota, and the natural world. Immunomodulatory microbial diversity and 'Old Friends' are thought to be supplemented from biodiverse natural environments, yet deficient in anthropogenically disturbed or degraded environments. However, few studies have compared the microbiomes of natural vs. human-altered environments and there is little knowledge of which microbial taxa are representative of ecological restoration-i...

Legionnaires' disease is a potentially fatal pneumonia like infection caused by inhalation or aspiration of water particles contaminated with pathogenic Legionella spp. Household showers have been identified as a potential source of sporadic, community-acquired Legionnaires' disease. This study used qPCR to enumerate Legionella spp. and Legionella pneumophila in water samples collected from domestic showers across metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia. A survey was used to identify risk factors associated with contamination and to examine awareness of Legionella control in the home...

To address concern regarding water sustainability, the Australian Federal Government and many state governments have implemented regulatory mechanisms and incentives to support households to purchase and install rainwater harvesting systems. This has led to an increase in rainwater harvesting in regional and urban Australia. This review examines the implementation of the regulatory mechanisms across Australia. In addition, the literature investigating the potential health consequences of rainwater consumption in Australia was explored...

Legionnaires' disease (LD) is reported from many parts of the world, mostly linked to drinking water sources or cooling towers. We reviewed two unusual rolling outbreaks in Sydney and New York, each clustered in time and space. Data on these outbreaks were collected from public sources and compared to previous outbreaks in Australia and the US. While recurrent outbreaks of LD over time linked to an identified single source have been described, multiple unrelated outbreaks clustered in time and geography have not been previously described...

The city of Sydney, Australia, experienced a persistent outbreak of Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 (Lp1) pneumonia in 2016. To elucidate the source and guide public health actions, the genomes of clinical and environmental Lp1 isolates recovered over 7 weeks were examined. A total of 48 isolates from human cases and cooling towers were sequenced and compared using single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based core-genome multilocus sequencing typing (MLST) and pangenome approaches. All three methods confirmed phylogenetic relatedness between isolates associated with outbreaks in the Central Business District (CBD) in March and May and those in suburb 1...

The incident command system (ICS) provides a common structure to control and coordinate an emergency response, regardless of scale or predicted impact. The lessons learned from the application of an ICS for large infectious disease outbreaks are documented. However, there is scant evidence on the application of an ICS to manage a local multiagency response to a disease cluster with environmental health risks. The Sydney Local Health District Public Health Unit (PHU) in New South Wales, Australia, was notified of 5 cases of Legionnaires' disease during 2 weeks in May 2016...

Public health agencies are increasingly relying on genomics during Legionnaires' disease investigations. However, the causative bacterium ( Legionella pneumophila ) has an unusual population structure, with extreme temporal and spatial genome sequence conservation. Furthermore, Legionnaires' disease outbreaks can be caused by multiple L. pneumophila genotypes in a single source. These factors can confound cluster identification using standard phylogenomic methods. Here, we show that a statistical learning approach based on L...

A quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) of opportunistic pathogens Legionella pneumophila (LP) and Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) was undertaken for various uses of roof-harvested rainwater (RHRW) reported in Queensland, Australia to identify appropriate usages and guide risk management practices. Risks from inhalation of aerosols due to showering, swimming in pools topped up with RHRW, use of a garden hose, car washing, and toilet flushing with RHRW were considered for LP while both ingestion (drinking, produce consumption, and accidental ingestion from various activities) and inhalation risks were considered for MAC...

Overall, 26% of Australian households use rainwater tanks as a source of potable and nonpotable water. Limited information is available on the total bacterial communities in tank water. Therefore, identification of dominant bacterial communities, diversity, and their distribution is important in understanding the microbial quality of tank water. In this study, the abundance and diversity of bacterial communities in 88 tank water samples collected from the urban areas of Brisbane (n=44) and the peri-urban center of Currumbin (n=44) in Southeast Queensland, Australia were determined using amplicon-based Illumina next-generation sequencing...

Legionellae are frequent contaminants of potable water supplies, resulting in sporadic infections and occasional outbreaks. Isolates of Legionella were collected from urban test sites within South East Queensland and evaluated for their virulence potential in vitro. Two strains (from the species Legionella londiniensis and Legionella quinlivanii) were demonstrated to have the ability to infect human macrophages, while a strain from the species Legionella anisa did not maintain an infection over the same time course...

Human disease caused by Legionella species is dominated by Legionella pneumophila, the main causative agent in cases of Legionnaires' disease. However, other species are known to cause infection, for example, Legionella longbeachae causes an equivalent number of cases of disease as L. pneumophila in Australia and New Zealand. Infection with L. longbeachae is commonly associated with exposure to composts and potting soils, and cases of infection with this organism have been increasing in Europe over the past ten years...