Moving reptiles?  Use our snake and lizard quarantine PCR panel to avoid spreading contagious agents.

Ruminating about hoofstock issues?  Try our ruminant fecal screening PCR panel - tests for most common GI pathogens in wild & domestic ruminants.

Our Rodent Infestation PCR Panel tests for 5 common pathogens found in rodent-contaminated facilities.

In over your head? Try our waterborne pathogens PCR panel - detection of 7 different environmental pathogens by real time PCR.

Something fishy going on in your tanks? Try our Zebrafish screening PCR panel - tests for 6 different pathogen categories from one easy-to-collect sample.

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Zoologix performs environmental, zoo, wildlife and aquatic PCR tests for...

Aeromonas hydrophila

African swine fever

Aleutian disease

Amphibian panel

Anisakis worms

Aspergillus

Babesia

Bacillus species

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis

Baylisascaris procyonis

Borna virus

Borrelia burgdorferi

Camelpox

Campylobacter

Canine circovirus

Canine distemper

Canine parvovirus

Capillaria xenopodis

Chlamydia/
Chlamydophila

Chlamydophila pneumoniae

Chytrid fungus

Citrobacter freundii

Classical swine fever

Clostridium

Coccidia

Coccidioides

Coronaviruses

Coxiella burnetii

Cryptococcosis

Cryptosporidium

Cryptosporidium serpentis

Cryptosporidium varanii (formerly saurophilum)

Delftia acidovorans

E. coli O157:H7

E. coli panel

Edwardsiella

Encephalomyocarditis

Enterobacter cloacae

Enterovirus

Epizootic hemorrhagic disease

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV)

Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP)

Feline panleukopenia

Ferret respiratory enteric coronavirus

Francisella tularensis

Giardia

Hantavirus

Helicobacter

Hepatitis E

Herring worms

Histoplasma

Inclusion Body Disease (IBD)

Influenza type A

Influenza type B

Japanese encephalitis

Johne's disease

Kangaroo herpesviruses

Klebsiella

Lawsonia intracellularis

Legionella

Leishmania

Leptospira

Listeria monocytogenes

Lizard quarantine panel

Lyme disease

Macropodid (kangaroo) herpesviruses

Malaria

Mink enteritis virus

Monkeypox

Mycobacteria in mammals, amphibians and fish

Mycoplasma mustelae

Mycoplasma species

Neospora caninum

Nipah virus

Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola

Pasteurella multocida

Pentastomid worms

Plasmodium species

Porcine cytomegalovirus

Porcine lymphotropic herpesvirus

Porcine parvovirus

Pseudocapillaria tomentosa

Pseudocapillaroides xenopi

Pseudoloma neurophilia

Pseudorabies

Pseudoterranova worms

Q fever

Rabies

Raillietiella orientalis

Ranavirus

Reovirus screen

Reptarenavirus

Rickettsia

Rift Valley fever

Rotavirus

Salmonella

Sarcocystis neurona

Snake fungal disease

Snake quarantine panel

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia

St. Louis encephalitis

Strep pneumoniae

Streptococcus pyogenes

Swine vesicular disease

Tongue worms

Toxoplasma gondii

Treponema pallidum

Trichomonas/
Tritrichomonas

Trypanosoma cruzi

Trypanosoma evansi

Tularemia

Turtle fraservirus

Vaccinia

Valley Fever

Vesicular stomatitis

Vibrio

West Nile virus

White nose syndrome

Yersinia enterocolitica

Yersinia pestis

Yersinia pseudotuberculosis


Legionella PCR test

environmental, wildlife and zoo assay data sheet

Legionella pneumophila

Test code:
B0085 - Ultrasensitive qualitative detection of Legionella pneumophila by real time PCR.

Test B0085 is included in P0041 - waterborne pathogens screening panel

Legionnaires' disease is caused by Legionella bacteria, particularly Legionella pneumophila. Legionella bacteria are found naturally in the environment, usually in water, growing best in warm water. They are often found in hot tubs, cooling towers, hot water tanks, large plumbing systems and decorative fountains.

L. pneumophila is a gram-negative, non-encapsulated, aerobic coccobacillus with a single, polar flagellum. It has a colony morphology that is gray-white with a textured, cut-glass appearance. It requires a supply of cysteine and iron to survive. It is a facultative intracellular bacterium that lives inside amoebae in the environment. This protects the bacterium from water chlorination and other environmental stresses.

People infected with Legionella can have symptoms similar to those of other forms of pneumonia, so clinical diagnosis can be difficult. Symptoms may include cough, shortness of breath, high fever, muscle aches and headaches.

These symptoms usually begin 2 to 14 days after exposure to the bacteria
.

In USA, the prevalence of infections with L. pneumophila is approximately 30 people per 100,000 residents per year. The infection rate peaks in the summer months. In endemic regions about 4-5% of pneumonia cases are caused by L. pneumophila.

Diagnosis of the disease has been done by bacterial culture or urine antigen tests. Legionella stains poorly with gram stain, but stains positive with silver. The growth of these bacteria requires specific culture medium, such as charcoal yeast extract with iron and cysteine. Thus, culture is not a sensitive method to detect these bacteria. The urine antigen test also is also not very sensitive

However, studies have shown that combining the urine antigen test with molecular detection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can significantly increase the specificity and sensitivity of the diagnosis (Koide et al., 2006).

Utilities:

  • Help confirm the disease causing agent
  • Shorten the time required to confirm a clinical diagnosis of Legionella
  • Help ensure Legionella-free facilities
  • Early prevention of spread of Legionella in a facility or geographic area
  • Minimize human exposure to this bacterium
  • Safety monitoring of biological products that derive from susceptible animals
  • Environmental monitoring of water supplies, equipment and facilities

References:
Koide, M., Higa, F., Tateyama, M., Nakasone, I., Yamane, N. and Fujita, J. (2006) Detection of Legionella species in clinical samples: Comparison of polymerase chain reaction and urinary antigen detection kits. Infection 34:264-268.

Specimen requirements:  0.2 ml whole blood in EDTA (purple top) tube, or nasal swab, or environmental swab, or 0.2 ml serum, culture, sputum, tissue, bronchoalveolar lavage, or water sample.

Contact Zoologix if advice is needed to determine an appropriate specimen type for a specific diagnostic application. For specimen types not listed here, please contact Zoologix to confirm specimen acceptability and shipping instructions.

For all specimen types, if there will be a delay in shipping, or during very warm weather, refrigerate specimens until shipped and ship with a cold pack unless more stringent shipping requirements are specified. Frozen specimens should be shipped so as to remain frozen in transit. See shipping instructions for more information.

Turnaround time: 2 business days

Methodology: Qualitative real time PCR

Normal range: Nondetected

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