Influence of climate and geography on the occurrence of Legionella and amoebae in composting facilities

BACKGROUND: The incidence of Legionnaires’ disease (LD) in southern Switzerland is three times higher than in northern Switzerland. Climatic and geographic factors may be potential causes for this difference. We studied the prevalence of Legionella and free-living amoebae (FLA) in compost and bioaerosol in two Swiss regions to understand the role of climate and geography in the transmission of LD. We also tried to investigate whether or not compost storage duration would influence the composition of Legionella and FLA communities. RESULTS: A larger proportion of compost heaps in facilities from southern Switzerland harbor more diverse Legionella compared to the north (P = 0.0146). FLA were isolated from composts in northern facilities at slightly higher rates (88.2% vs. 69.2%) and at lower rates from bioaerosols (6.3% vs. 13%) than in southern Switzerland. The diversity of FLA was higher in northern than in southern Switzerland (80% vs. 65%). A general decrease in the presence and variety of species was observed with decreasing compost storage time length. A discriminant model showed that values of vapour pressure, relative humidity and temperature distinguish the two regions, which were also characterised by different contamination rates by FLA and Legionella. CONCLUSIONS: The duration of outdoor storage may favour contamination of the compost by Legionella, and may increase the number and isolation of Legionella naturally occurring in compost. The climate in the south seems to favour higher Legionella contamination of compost heaps: this could explain the higher incidence of LD in southern Switzerland. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1756-0500-7-831) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.