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[A simplified and quantitative method for culturing and isolating Legionella from air condition cooling waters]
Objective:
To establish simplified technique to investigate the distribution of Legionella from air condition cooling waters in a district in Shanghai.
Methods:
Using simplified method to make GVPC agar plates; using candle jar to replace CO(2) incubator; initial identification was only relied on colony appearance but no growth on the blood agar plate; and a simple formula was used to quantify the Legionella in waters.
Results:
From July 1997 to June 1999 in Luwan District Shanghai, the simplified methods were used to culture and isolate 185 Legionella strains from 371 water samples (47 fixed spots of hotels, markets, resident buildings, hospitals, subway stations, cinemas and stadiums), with a detection rate of 49.87% with highest at the subway stations (69.36%), which were significantly higher than repeated in the literature in this country and abroad.
Conclusions:
Simplified methods were established for culturing, isolating and quantifying Legionella. These methods had been used for 3 years to have got a high Legionella detection rate from the cooling waters. The high detection rate and quantity of Legionella in cooling waters of subway stations call for more attention to the fact that Legionellosis might exist in these waters.