Isolation and identification of Legionella spp. from hot spring water in Algeria by culture and molecular methods.

AIMS: Due to infectious risk associated with the presence of Legionella in warm water, we determined the prevalence of living Legionella spp. in hot spring water in Algeria. METHODS AND RESULTS: Detection of Legionella by culture was done by using two methods, direct culture on agar plates and co-culture with amoeba. Fifty samples were taken from different hot springs in northern Algeria, including swimming pools, showers and thermal sources. Legionella pneumophila serotypes were predominant, accounting for 60% of positive samples. Direct method allowed the isolation of 13 L. pneumophila only of 50 samples (26%), whereas co-culture using a panel of three free living amoeba allowed the isolation of 119 Legionella species from the same samples (80%) CONCLUSIONS: Amoeba co-culture allowed the isolation of several Legionella sp., while direct culture allowed the isolation of L. pneumophila only. Remarkably, Legionella longbeachae, usually isolated from soil and compost, was isolated for the first time in thermal water in three samples using Vermamoeba vermiformis co-culture. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The presence of Legionella in the water of hot springs in Algeria, which are mainly frequented by individuals at risk of Legionellosis, requires urgent control measures.

Evidence of an environmental reservoir for emergent Mycobacterium colombiense.

Mycobacterium colombiense, which belongs to the M. avium complex, is reported to have been isolated from cases of disseminated infection in both immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients. During the isolation of protists from water samples in French Guyana, we co-isolated a flagellated green alga (Polytoma sp.) and a mycobacterium identified as M. colombiense.

Isolation of new fastidious alpha Proteobacteria and Afipia felis from hospital water supplies by direct plating and amoebal co-culture procedures.

As water is a source of nosocomial infections in hospitals, the presence of fastidious Gram-negative bacteria in water samples taken in a university hospital was investigated. Water samples were inoculated onto agar plates and into amoebal microplates for co-culture. Sixty-eight alpha proteobacteria isolates were obtained and characterized using phenotypic methods and 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison. The latter approach divided the strains into seven clusters. Of these, one corresponded to previously recognized Afipia felis and it is likely that six were closely related new species. As these bacteria are fastidious and can not be cultivated on standard microbiological media, their possible role in hospital-acquired human infections should be investigated.