Legionella pneumophilaserogroup 1 population in Italy by monoclonal subtyping

Abstract

SUMMARYThe Oxford panel of monoclonal antibodies was used to subtype 83 strains ofLegionella pneumophilaserogroup 1 of human and environmental origin. The International panel was also used to subtype 50 of them. All the 18 patients' isolates were of the Pontiac subgroup, and 40/43 of the environmental strains of the Pontiac subgroup were associated with human infection. The remaining environmental strains were subgroups Olda (15 strains), Camperdown (5 strains), and Bellingham (2 strains). The Philadelphia subgroup was the commonest among the environmental strains tested with the international MABs panel.This study confirms previous findings thatL. pneumophilaserogroup 1 isolates with the Pontiac (Oxford panel) or MAB-2 (international panel) reacting antigen marker seem to be more virulent than the other subgroups.