Evaluation of Duopath Legionella kit for the rapid identification of Legionella strains isolated from water samples.

Duopath Legionella (Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany) is a rapid and simple immunochromatographic assay kit for the identification of Legionella species. We evaluated the precision of the kit in identifying 100 strains of Legionella and 35 strains of non-Legionella bacteria isolated from cooling tower and bath water samples. Consequently, of all the Legionella strains tested, 99 strains were judged to be Legionella, and only one strain (Legionella busanensis) was judged to be non-Legionella. All of the 35 non-Legionella strains were judged to be non-Legionella. We therefore conclude that Duopath Legionella is a useful method for the rapid identification of Legionella.