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Legionella pneumophila and Protozoan Hosts: Implications for the Control of Hospital and Potable Water Systems

Legionella pneumophila is an opportunistic waterborne pathogen of public health concern. It is the causative agent of Legionnaires’ disease (LD) and Pontiac fever and is ubiquitous in manufactured water systems, where protozoan hosts and complex microbial communities provide protection from disinfec...

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Autores principales: Nisar, Muhammad Atif, Ross, Kirstin E., Brown, Melissa H., Bentham, Richard, Whiley, Harriet
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7238060/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32326561
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens9040286
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author Nisar, Muhammad Atif
Ross, Kirstin E.
Brown, Melissa H.
Bentham, Richard
Whiley, Harriet
author_facet Nisar, Muhammad Atif
Ross, Kirstin E.
Brown, Melissa H.
Bentham, Richard
Whiley, Harriet
author_sort Nisar, Muhammad Atif
collection PubMed
description Legionella pneumophila is an opportunistic waterborne pathogen of public health concern. It is the causative agent of Legionnaires’ disease (LD) and Pontiac fever and is ubiquitous in manufactured water systems, where protozoan hosts and complex microbial communities provide protection from disinfection procedures. This review collates the literature describing interactions between L. pneumophila and protozoan hosts in hospital and municipal potable water distribution systems. The effectiveness of currently available water disinfection protocols to control L. pneumophila and its protozoan hosts is explored. The studies identified in this systematic literature review demonstrated the failure of common disinfection procedures to achieve long term elimination of L. pneumophila and protozoan hosts from potable water. It has been demonstrated that protozoan hosts facilitate the intracellular replication and packaging of viable L. pneumophila in infectious vesicles; whereas, cyst-forming protozoans provide protection from prolonged environmental stress. Disinfection procedures and protozoan hosts also facilitate biogenesis of viable but non-culturable (VBNC) L. pneumophila which have been shown to be highly resistant to many water disinfection protocols. In conclusion, a better understanding of L. pneumophila-protozoan interactions and the structure of complex microbial biofilms is required for the improved management of L. pneumophila and the prevention of LD.
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spelling pubmed-72380602020-05-28 Legionella pneumophila and Protozoan Hosts: Implications for the Control of Hospital and Potable Water Systems Nisar, Muhammad Atif Ross, Kirstin E. Brown, Melissa H. Bentham, Richard Whiley, Harriet Pathogens Review Legionella pneumophila is an opportunistic waterborne pathogen of public health concern. It is the causative agent of Legionnaires’ disease (LD) and Pontiac fever and is ubiquitous in manufactured water systems, where protozoan hosts and complex microbial communities provide protection from disinfection procedures. This review collates the literature describing interactions between L. pneumophila and protozoan hosts in hospital and municipal potable water distribution systems. The effectiveness of currently available water disinfection protocols to control L. pneumophila and its protozoan hosts is explored. The studies identified in this systematic literature review demonstrated the failure of common disinfection procedures to achieve long term elimination of L. pneumophila and protozoan hosts from potable water. It has been demonstrated that protozoan hosts facilitate the intracellular replication and packaging of viable L. pneumophila in infectious vesicles; whereas, cyst-forming protozoans provide protection from prolonged environmental stress. Disinfection procedures and protozoan hosts also facilitate biogenesis of viable but non-culturable (VBNC) L. pneumophila which have been shown to be highly resistant to many water disinfection protocols. In conclusion, a better understanding of L. pneumophila-protozoan interactions and the structure of complex microbial biofilms is required for the improved management of L. pneumophila and the prevention of LD. MDPI 2020-04-15 /pmc/articles/PMC7238060/ /pubmed/32326561 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens9040286 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Nisar, Muhammad Atif
Ross, Kirstin E.
Brown, Melissa H.
Bentham, Richard
Whiley, Harriet
Legionella pneumophila and Protozoan Hosts: Implications for the Control of Hospital and Potable Water Systems
title Legionella pneumophila and Protozoan Hosts: Implications for the Control of Hospital and Potable Water Systems
title_full Legionella pneumophila and Protozoan Hosts: Implications for the Control of Hospital and Potable Water Systems
title_fullStr Legionella pneumophila and Protozoan Hosts: Implications for the Control of Hospital and Potable Water Systems
title_full_unstemmed Legionella pneumophila and Protozoan Hosts: Implications for the Control of Hospital and Potable Water Systems
title_short Legionella pneumophila and Protozoan Hosts: Implications for the Control of Hospital and Potable Water Systems
title_sort legionella pneumophila and protozoan hosts: implications for the control of hospital and potable water systems
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7238060/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32326561
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens9040286
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