Rapid Identification of a Cooling Tower-Associated Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak Supported by Polymerase Chain Reaction Testing of Environmental Samples, New York City, 2014–2015

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Environ Health
• Personal Author:
  Benowitz, Isaac ; Fitzhenry, Robert ; Boyd, Christopher ; Dickinson, Michelle ; Levy, Michael ; Lin, Ying ; Nazarian, Elizabeth ; Ostrowsky, Belinda ; Passaretti, Teresa ; Rakeman, Jennifer ; Saylors, Amy ; Shamoonian, Elena ; Smith, Terry-Ann ; Balter, Sharon
  More +
• Description:
  We investigated an outbreak of eight Legionnaires' disease cases among persons living in an urban residential community of 60,000 people. Possible environmental sources included two active cooling towers (air-conditioning units for large buildings) <1 km from patient residences, a market misting system, a community-wide water system used for heating and cooling, and potable water. To support a timely public health response, we used real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to identify | DNA in environmental samples within hours of specimen collection. We detected | serogroup 1 DNA only at a power plant cooling tower, supporting the decision to order remediation before culture results were available. An isolate from a power plant cooling tower sample was indistinguishable from a patient isolate by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, suggesting the cooling tower was the outbreak source. PCR results were available <1 day after sample collection, and culture results were available as early as 5 days after plating. PCR is a valuable tool for identifying | DNA in environmental samples in outbreak settings.
• Subjects:
  • Article
• Source:
  J Environ Health. 80(8):8-12.
• Pubmed ID:
  29780175
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC5956537
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  U50 CK000407/CK/NCEZID CDC HHS/United States
• Volume:
  80
• Issue:
  8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/54366/cdc_54366_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 84.34 KB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:52d7d6d775bc2fcf00f9149350b2bf9df8cdf2ec5ddec48c49abeaa576f829ad