Legionella species are the causative agent of Legionnaires’ disease, a potentially fatal bacterial pneumonia. New regulations and standards have prioritized the development of water safety plans to minimize the growth and spread of Legionella species in buildings. To determine the presence and type of Legionella in a water system, microbiological culturing is the gold standard method. However, recently new methodologies have been developed that claim to be sensitive and specific for Legionella at the genus or L. pneumophila at the species level. Published and anecdotal reports suggest that one of these newer culture‐based, enzyme‐substrate methods, the IDEXX Legiolert test, may exhibit false positivity with other microbes common to water sources. We experimentally evaluated the IDEXX Legiolert method using these other waterborne bacteria including Elizabethkingia meningoseptica, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis and Serratia marcescens at real‐world environmental concentrations. We saw false‐positive results for the Legiolert test with several of these organisms, at sample concentrations as low as 60 CFU per ml. False‐positive Legionella results can trigger costly remediation and water‐use restrictions, that may be implemented while waiting for additional, confirmatory microbiological testing that could, in this case, yield no L. pneumophila.

中文翻译：

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IDEXX Legiolert方法与其他革兰氏阴性细菌和水生病原体的交叉反应会导致假阳性检测结果

军团菌是军团病的病原体，军团病是一种潜在的致命细菌性肺炎。新法规和标准已优先制定水安全计划，以最大程度减少军团菌在建筑物中的生长和扩散。为了确定军团菌在水系统中的存在和类型，微生物培养是金标准方法。但是，最近已经开发出新的方法论，声称对军团菌或嗜肺军团菌敏感且特异。在物种层面上。已发表和轶事的报告表明，这些基于文化的新型酶底物方法之一，即IDEXX Legiolert试验，可能对水源中常见的其他微生物表现出假阳性。我们在实际环境浓度下，使用其他水传播细菌，包括脑膜炎伊利沙伯菌，铜绿假单胞菌，奇异变形杆菌和粘质沙雷氏菌，通过实验评估了IDEXX Legiolert方法。我们对其中的几种生物进行了Legiolert试验的假阳性结果，样品浓度低至每毫升60 CFU。假阳性军团菌结果可能会触发昂贵的修复和用水限制，而在等待其他确认性微生物检测（可能在这种情况下不会产生嗜肺乳杆菌）的同时，可能会实施这些限制。