Pilot project for rapid Legionella testing.

Susan Pearson BSc, a freelance journalist and communications consultant specialising in medicine and the environment (see also HEJ - April 2013), reports on discussions, at a recent educational seminar, on a pilot project undertaken by the Environmental Microbiology Unit at the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals (BSUH) NHS Trust, which compared the effectiveness and accuracy of conventional 'culture' testing for Legionella in water systems, with a new, 'less labour-intensive', DNA-based testing system that can produce results 'in a matter of hours'.