Legionella Contamination in Water Environment
A special issue of Pathogens (ISSN 2076-0817).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 July 2020) | Viewed by 68701
Special Issue Editors
Interests: emerging pathogens; environment; antibiotic resistance; molecular methods; water; food
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: methods for the detection of Legionella in water; study of disinfection method against waterborne pathogens; evaluation of microbiological air quality
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Legionella spp. are ubiquitous microorganisms that are widely distributed in aquatic environments. From these natural reservoirs, this opportunistic pathogen can spread to and colonize artificial aquatic environments. Water systems of large buildings, such as hospitals, thermal baths, hotels, and dental units are often contaminated by legionellae, whereas little data about Legionella contamination in occupational environments are available. Legionella pneumophila is most frequently associated with human disease; however, other species, including Legionella bozemanae, Legionella dumoffii, and Legionella longbeachae also cause human infections. The most common way of contagion is via aerosols inhalation containing infectious Legionella from shower heads, certain medical equipment (e.g., respiratory equipment), cooling towers, hydrotherapy equipment, decorative fountains, etc.
Studies of associations between weather variables and sporadic cases of legionellosis suggest alternative potential exposure pathways. Associations have been reported between legionellosis and several weather variables, but the most consistent results relate to rainfall highlighting the possible role of the climatic change in the Legionella distribution.
A range of physical and chemical disinfection methods have been proposed with the aim of controlling Legionella contamination; however, to date, the most effective procedures have not been defined. Therefore, alternative disinfection methods that are effective in controlling the proliferation of Legionella could be useful tools to reduce the risk of the spread of Legionnaires' disease.
Surveying and monitoring of legionellae in water systems is needed for risk assessment and prevention of legionellosis. Assessments of L. pneumophila in water are typically performed by culture isolation on selective media. However, although Legionella culture growth is essential for identifying and typing Legionella strains, it has several limits including long incubation times and the inability to detect viable but non-culturable bacteria (VBNC) that may represent a public health hazard. For this reason, in the last decades, alternative tools for rapid, sensitive, and specific detection of Legionella in water samples has been proposed to overcome the many disadvantages of traditional culture methods (e.g., qPCR, EMA or PMA qPCR, biosensors, NGS).
We invite you to submit a review article or original research article related to these issues.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to the following:
- Legionella occurrence in water environments (e.g., wastewater, water distribution system, water dental unit)
- Legionella risk evaluation in occupational environments
- Microbial risk assessment applied to Legionella contamination in water
- Effectiveness of disinfection procedures in reducing Legionella contamination
- New methods for Legionella detection in water
- Climate changes and Legionella distribution
Dr. Silvia Bonetta
Dr. Sara Bonetta
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- Water environment
- Environmental monitoring
- Detection methods
- Disinfection procedures
- Climate changes
- Risk assessment
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