Characterisation of Legionella Clinical Isolates in Spain from 2012 to 2022

Abstract

Although cases of Legionnaires’ disease are notifiable, data on the phenotypic and genotypic characterisation of clinical isolates are limited. This retrospective study aims to report the results of the characterisation of Legionella clinical isolates in Spain from 2012 to 2022. Monoclonal antibodies from the Dresden panel were used for phenotypic identification of Legionella pneumophila. Genotypic characterisation and sequence type assignment were performed using the Sequence-Based Typing scheme. Of the 1184 samples, 569 were identified as Legionella by culture. Of these, 561 were identified as L. pneumophila, of which 521 were serogroup 1. The most common subgroups were Philadelphia (n = 107) and Knoxville (n = 106). The SBT analysis revealed 130 different STs, with the most common genotypes being ST1 (n = 87), ST23 (n = 57), ST20 (n = 30), and ST42 (n = 29). Knoxville has the highest variability with 32 different STs. ST23 is mainly found in Allentown/France (n = 46) and ST42 in Benidorm (n = 18), whereas ST1 is widely distributed. The results demonstrate that clinical isolates show high genetic diversity, although only a few sequence types (STs) are responsible for most cases. However, outbreaks can also occur with rare genotypes. More data on LD and associated epidemiological studies are needed to establish the risk of an isolate causing outbreak in the future.