Description
Nearly half of all known Legionella species are associated with human disease, such as Pontiac Fever and Legionnaires´ disease (LD). LD is the most severe form of infection, with clinical symptoms including pneumonia and a fatality rate of around 10%. The vast majority of the isolates associated with LD in previously healthy individuals are L. pneumophila.
L.pneumophila is very common to the aqueous environment with amoebae being among their natural hosts. L.pneumophila infection occurs via inhalation of water droplets from a contaminated source that has allowed the organism to grow and spread. L.pneumophila can often been found, in high concentration, in a wide variety of environmental water sources such as ponds, hot-water tanks, hot tubs, showerheads, whirlpools, spas, air-conditioning, cooling towers, and public fountains, if those water systems are not managed correctly (e.g. in case of stagnation and warm temperatures).
Traditional microbiological detection and confirmation methods are long established and well developed but are laborious and typically require many days in order to obtain results, as Legionella are slow growing bacteria. This qPCR Detection Kit provides a fast, sensitive and reliable method for the detection of L.pneumophila based on qPCR using specific FAM-labeled probes, requiring only a few hours. This immense time reduction allows taking appropriate action, if needed, much sooner.
This kit is compatible with instruments equipped with FAM and ROX channels. The detection limit is approximately 5pg of L.pneumophila DNA allowing the detection of as little 103 cells/L of water, with a specificity of 100%.