Pan-European study on culture-proven Legionnaires' disease: distribution of Legionella pneumophila serogroups and monoclonal subgroups.

This pan-European study included unrelated strains of Legionella pneumophila obtained from 1335 cases of Legionnaires' disease. The isolates were serotyped into the serogroups 1 to 15 by monoclonal antibodies (MAb) and/or rabbit antisera. Additionally, MAb subgrouping was undertaken for isolates belonging to serogroups 1, 4, and 5.

A multicenter evaluation of genotypic methods for the epidemiologic typing of Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1: results of a pan-European study.

OBJECTIVES: To compare genotypic methods for epidemiologic typing of Legionella pneumophila serogroup (sg) 1, in order to determine the best available method within Europe for implementation and standardization by members of the European Working Group on Legionella Infections. METHODS: Coded isolates (114) of L. pneumophila sg 1 comprising one epidemiologically 'unrelated' (79) and one 'related' panel of isolates (35) were sent to 12 laboratories in 11 European countries.

Leptospira strains kept at the National Centre for Leptospirosis in Rome, Italy.

Since the National Centre for Leptospirosis (Department of Bacteriology and Medical Mycology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome) was established in 1956 by B. Babudieri, efforts have been devoted to identifying new Leptospira isolates and maintaining a collection of strains that today comprises 670 strains, 550 of which have been totally or partially classified, and 120 are still under study. This collection includes 23 serogroups and 156 serovars of pathogenic leptospires, and 32 serogroups and 54 serovars of saprophytic leptospires.

Multiple types of Legionella pneumophila serogroup 6 in a hospital heated-water system associated with sporadic infections.

Five sporadic cases of nosocomial Legionnaires' disease were documented from 1989 to 1997 in a hospital in northern Italy. Two of them, which occurred in a 75-year-old man suffering from ischemic cardiopathy and in an 8-year-old girl suffering from acute leukemia, had fatal outcomes. Legionella pneumophila serogroup 6 was isolated from both patients and from hot-water samples taken at different sites in the hospital.