Investigation of legionella in water systems of Trabzon provincial buildings

Objective: Our study aimed to evaluate and compare the water systems in the natural spring water reservoir -store, housing, mosque and school buildings in the province of Trabzon in terms of Legionella existence. Material and Method: In this study, a total of 215 samples were taken including 131 water and 84 swab samples from 131 different place located in the central district of Trabzon between August-November 2019. These were 56 natural spring water reservoirs-stores, 32 residential shower heads, 23 mosque sadirvan, and 20 school depots. Swab samples were taken same time from the same place with water samples. The specimens were inoculated to BCYE and GVPC media and formed colonies were evaluated by latex agglutination test and identified at the species and serotype level. Results: Legionella was detected in 13.74% of the buildings taken the sample. Legionella has been determined as 21.43% in natural spring water reservoir-store, 12.50% in residential shower heads, 5.00% in school depots and 4.35% in mosque sadirvans. There was no statistically significant difference in Legionella detection among the sampled buildings. Legionella was determined as 9.92% in the water samples and 7.14% in the swab samples. No statistically significant difference was found between the sampling method and Legionella detection. However, Legionella was detected in 2 swab samples taken from the natural spring water reservoirs-stores and 3 swab samples taken from the residential shower heads, although there was no detected in the water samples taken from the same places. It was determined that Legionella sp. in 27.77% and L. pneumophila serogroup 1 in 11.11%, L. pneumophila serogroup 2-15 in 61.11% of the buildings detected Legionella. Conclusion: Legionella was detected in all buildings sampled. Natural spring waters reservoir-store stand out as the building containing the most Legionella. Although the rate of Legionella detection in water samples is higher than that of swab samples; It was determined that taking swab samples from the places where water samples were taken increased Legionella detection rate.