Detection of Legionella-contaminated aerosols in the vicinity of a bio-trickling filter of a breeding sow facility - A pilot study.

The urbanization of agricultural areas results in a reduction of distances between residential buildings and livestock farms. In the public debate, livestock farming is increasingly criticized due to environmental disturbance and odor nuisance originating from such facilities. One method to reduce odor and ammonia is by exhaust air treatment, for example, by biological exhaust air purification processes with bio-trickling filters filled with tap water. Higher temperatures in the summer time and the generation of biofilms are ideal growth conditions for Legionella. However, there are no studies on the presence of Legionella in the water of bio-trickling filters and the release of Legionella-containing aerosols. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate Legionella in wash water and emitted bioaerosols of a bio-trickling filter system of a breeding sow facility. For this purpose, measurements were carried out using a cyclone sampler. In addition, samples of wash water were taken. Legionella were not found by culture methods. However, using molecular biological methods, Legionella spp. could be detected in wash water as well as in bioaerosol samples. With antibody-based methods, Legionella pneumophila were identified. Further studies are needed to investigate the environmental health relevance of Legionella-containing aerosols emitted by such exhaust air purification systems.

Rapid quantification method for Legionella pneumophila in surface water.

World-wide legionellosis outbreaks caused by evaporative cooling systems have shown that there is a need for rapid screening methods for Legionella pneumophila in water. Antibody-based methods for the quantification of L. pneumophila are rapid, non-laborious, and relatively cheap but not sensitive enough for establishment as a screening method for surface and drinking water. Therefore, preconcentration methods have to be applied in advance to reach the needed sensitivity. In a basic test, monolithic adsorption filtration (MAF) was used as primary preconcentration method that adsorbs L. pneumophila with high efficiency. Ten-liter water samples were concentrated in 10 min and further reduced to 1 mL by centrifugal ultrafiltration (CeUF). The quantification of L. pneumophila strains belonging to the monoclonal subtype Bellingham was performed via flow-based chemiluminescence sandwich microarray immunoassays (CL-SMIA) in 36 min. The whole analysis process takes 90 min. A polyclonal antibody (pAb) against L. pneumophila serogroup 1-12 and a monoclonal antibody (mAb) against L. pneumophila SG 1 strain Bellingham were immobilized on a microarray chip. Without preconcentration, the detection limit was 4.0 × 10(3) and 2.8 × 10(3) CFU/mL determined by pAb and mAb 10/6, respectively. For samples processed by MAF-CeUF prior to SMIA detection, the limit of detection (LOD) could be decreased to 8.7 CFU/mL and 0.39 CFU/mL, respectively. A recovery of 99.8 ± 15.9% was achieved for concentrations between 1-1000 CFU/mL. The established combined analytical method is sensitive for rapid screening of surface and drinking water to allow fast hygiene control of L. pneumophila.