냉각탑에서 레지오넬라 균종의 분리

Abstract

Legionnaires' disease was recognized as a cause of epidemic pneumonia more than 15 years ago. It is now known that the disease first caused epidemic pneumonia some 30years before the 1976 epidemic in Philadelphia and that the causative bacterium had been isolated during the same decade. The legionella are gram negative bacilli consisting of one genus(Legionella), 39 named species. The legionella are distinguished phenotypically from other obligately aerobic asaccharolytic bacteria by their dependence on L-cysteine for primary isolation and by unique cellular fatty acids and ubiquinones. Water is the major reservoir for legionella, and legionella are frequent inhabitants of most water sources. Cooling towers are also frequently contaminated by Legionellaceae. Cooling towers have been associated with numerous outbreaks.