Environmental surveillance and molecular characterization of Legionella in tropical Singapore.

In this study, we provided an update on the prevalence of Legionella in mist fans (N=28), household water heaters with storage tanks (N=19) and instantaneous heaters (N=30); and extended the survey to spa pools (N=29) and aerosol-generating fixtures in nursing homes (N=116). The prevalence of Legionella were 21.1% in water heaters with storage tanks, 24.1% in spa pools, 14.2% in mist fans and 3.3% in instantaneous heaters. Legionella was not detected in nursing homes. A total of 37 isolates were subjected to molecular characterization using Sequence-Based Typing (SBT) protocol from the European Working Group on Legionella Infections (EWGLI). This is the first study on the use of SBT protocol on environmental strains isolated from tropical South East Asia. The Legionella flora was very hete...

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