Molecular Epidemiology of Legionella pneumophila Isolated from Bath Facilities of Public Establishments in Seoul

ABSTRACT

The genus Legionella is common in aquatic environments. Some species of Legionella are recognized as potential opportunistic pathogens for human, notably Legionella pneumophila that causes Legionellosis. During the summer season between June and August in 2010, we isolated 61 L. pneumophila from the bath facilities of public establishments of 25 wards in Seoul. The existence of 16S rRNA and mip gene of L. pneumophila was confirmed in the genome of the isolated strains by PCR. Among the 61 strains of L. pneumophila, thirty three isolates belong to serogroup 1 (54.1%), 13 isolates were serogroup 6 (21.3%), 9 isolates were serogroup 5 (14.8%), 3 isolates were serogroup 3 (4.9%), and 3 isolates were identified in serogroup 2 (4.9%). On pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis using SfiI, genetic types of L. pneumophila were classified into 8 (A to H) patterns by the band similarity with excess of 65%. Our results suggest the existence of serological and genetic diversity among the L. pneumophila isolates.