{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,14]],"date-time":"2026-05-14T15:32:37Z","timestamp":1778772757175,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,23]],"date-time":"2020-11-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1606089600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:p><jats:bold>Background:<\/jats:bold> Legionnaires' disease (LD) is a potentially fatal pneumonia predominantly caused by infection due to <jats:italic>Legionella pneumophila<\/jats:italic> although more than 50 other <jats:italic>Legionella<\/jats:italic> species are described. Water systems contaminated with <jats:italic>Legionella<\/jats:italic> spp. are the implicated sources of Legionnaires' disease. In this study, we aimed to assess <jats:italic>Legionella<\/jats:italic> contamination in the water sources of a tertiary care hospital and to determine the virulence properties and molecular characteristics of <jats:italic>L. pneumophila<\/jats:italic> environmental isolates.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Methods:<\/jats:bold> During May 2015 through August 2018, a total of 201 hospital water samples were tested for <jats:italic>L. pneumophila<\/jats:italic> by standardized culture procedures; environmental isolates were examined for the presence of two virulence genes: <jats:italic>Legionella vir homolog (lvh)<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>repeats in structural toxin (rtxA)<\/jats:italic> by PCR. The genotyping of isolates was performed by sequence-based typing (SBT) according to the protocol of the European Study Group for <jats:italic>Legionella<\/jats:italic> Infections (ESGLI).<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Results:<\/jats:bold><jats:italic>L. pneumophila<\/jats:italic> was isolated from 38\/201 (18.9%) water samples; among the 46 isolates, the <jats:italic>lvh<\/jats:italic> locus was present in 45 (97.8%), the <jats:italic>rtxA<\/jats:italic> locus was found in 45 (97.8%), and both loci were found in 44 (95.7%) isolates. A total of 23 sequence types (STs) were identified among the 44 isolates (index of discrimination [IOD] of 0.929), and 11\/23 (47.8%) STs were new to the ESGLI database.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Conclusions:<\/jats:bold> The study results showed genetic diversity in <jats:italic>L. pneumophila<\/jats:italic> isolates from the hospital environment along with a high percentage of pathogenicity loci. Besides, certain STs may have an increased ability to cause legionellosis, thus requires specific infection control and prevention strategies whenever identified.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2020.596463","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,23]],"date-time":"2020-11-23T06:08:27Z","timestamp":1606111707000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Distribution of Virulence Genes and Sequence-Based Types Among Legionella pneumophila Isolated From the Water Systems of a Tertiary Care Hospital in India"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"8","author":[{"given":"K.","family":"Sreenath","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Rama","family":"Chaudhry","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"E. 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