Cytotoxicity, Intracellular Replication, and Contact-Dependent Pore Formation of Genotyped Environmental Isolates from Hospital Water Systems in the West Bank, Palestine.

is the causative agent of Legionnaires' disease. Due to the hot climate and intermittent water supply, the West Bank, Palestine, can be considered a high-risk area for this often fatal atypical pneumonia. occurs in biofilms of natural and man-made freshwater environments, where it infects and replicates intracellularly within protozoa.

Biogeography and Environmental Drivers of Abundance and Genotype Composition Across the West Bank: Relevance of a Genotype-Based Ecology for Understanding Occurrence.

The West Bank can be considered as a high-risk area for prevalence in drinking water due to high ambient temperature, intermittent water supply, frequent pressure loss, and storage of drinking water in roof containers. To assess occurrence of species, especially , in the drinking water of the West Bank, the drinking water distribution systems of eight hospitals were sampled over a period of 2.3 years covering the seasonal cycle and the major geographic regions.

Characterization of Populations by Multilocus Variable Number of Tandem Repeats (MLVA) Genotyping from Drinking Water and Biofilm in Hospitals from Different Regions of the West Bank.

The West Bank can be considered a high-risk area for Legionnaires' disease (LD) due to its hot climate, intermittent water supply and roof storage of drinking water. , mostly , are responsible for LD, a severe, community-acquired and nosocomial pneumonia. To date, no extensive assessment of spp and using cultivation in combination with molecular approaches in the West Bank has been published.

Virulence Traits of Environmental and Clinical Legionella pneumophila Multilocus Variable-Number Tandem-Repeat Analysis (MLVA) Genotypes.

causes water-based infections resulting in severe pneumonia. Recently, we showed that different MLVA-8 (multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis using 8 loci) genotypes dominated different sites of a drinking-water distribution system. Each genotype displayed a unique temperature-dependent growth behavior.

Temperature-Dependent Growth Modeling of Environmental and Clinical Legionella pneumophila Multilocus Variable-Number Tandem-Repeat Analysis (MLVA) Genotypes.

causes waterborne infections resulting in severe pneumonia. High-resolution genotyping of isolates can be achieved by multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA). Recently, we found that different MLVA genotypes of dominated different sites in a small drinking-water network, with a genotype-related temperature and abundance regime.

Spatial distribution of Legionella pneumophila MLVA-genotypes in a drinking water system.

Bacteria of the genus Legionella cause water-based infections, resulting in severe pneumonia. To improve our knowledge about Legionella spp. ecology, its prevalence and its relationships with environmental factors were studied.