Sequence-based typing of Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 clinical isolates from Belgium between 2000 and 2010

E Vekens; O Soetens; R De Mendonça; F Echahidi; S Roisin; A Deplano; L Eeckhout; W Achtergael; D Piérard; O Denis; I Wybo

doi:10.2807/ese.17.43.20302-en

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Sequence-based typing of Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 clinical isolates from Belgium between 2000 and 2010
E Vekens¹ , O Soetens¹ , R De Mendonça² , F Echahidi¹ , S Roisin² , A Deplano² , L Eeckhout¹ , W Achtergael¹ , D Piérard¹ , O Denis² , I Wybo¹
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Affiliations: ¹ National Reference Centre for Legionella pneumophila, Department of Microbiology and Infection Control, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium ² National Reference Centre for Legionella pneumophila, Department of Microbiology, Erasme Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

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E Vekens
labomicro uzbrussel.be
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Citation style for this article: Vekens E, Soetens O, De Mendonça R, Echahidi F, Roisin S, Deplano A, Eeckhout L, Achtergael W, Piérard D, Denis O, Wybo I. Sequence-based typing of Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 clinical isolates from Belgium between 2000 and 2010. Euro Surveill. 2012;17(43):pii=20302. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.17.43.20302-en Received: 07 May 2012

Abstract

Sequence-based typing (SBT) is a discriminatory method widely used to genotype Legionella pneumophila strains. A total of 86 clinical L. pneumophila serogroup 1 (sg1) isolates, collected between January 2000 and December 2010 in the two Belgian National Reference Centres for Legionella pneumophila, were genotyped using the internationally standardised SBT protocol of the European Working Group for Legionella Infections (EWGLI). The isolates could be classified into 31 different sequence types (ST, index of diversity: 0.879). The obtained STs were submitted to the EWGLI SBT-database for L. pneumophila. In our study, ST47 (27.9%) and ST1 (19.8%) were the most frequently detected STs. The detected profiles were a combination of both frequently isolated and unique STs, and of both worldwide distributed and more local strains. Two STs, ST880 and ST881, were new to the EWGLI database. In conclusion, we characterised L. pneumophila sg1 isolates with the SBT method, and created a Belgian profile database that will be useful for future epidemiological studies.