Isolation of Legionella anisa from multiple sites of a hospital water system: The eradication of Legionella contamination

For the prevention of nosocomial cases of legionellosis in the Ryukyu University Hospital neonatal wards, we examined nine shower units and a sink tap water unit for the presence of Legionella, over a 6-year period. We isolated Legionella-like organisms (LLO) from shower-heads by culturing sediments from the water samples on buffered charcoal yeast extracts (BCYE). We used DNA-DNA hybridization to determine that the organisms were L. anisa. A fingerprinting technique called random amplified polymorphism DNA (RAPD) also showed that all the organisms were identical at the genome level. Replacement of the shower heads harboring colonies of L. anisa prevented further contamination. Nosocomial cases of legionellosis have not been reported from the wards during the period of this survey. This is the first description of the isolation of L. anisa from multiple sites within a hospital, and RAPD analysis suggests that these may be the spread of a single clone.