Environmental surveillance and spatio-temporal analysis of Legionella spp. in a region of northeastern Italy (2002-2017).
Legionella spp. are considered an important cause of potentially preventable morbidity and mortality, making environmental surveillance a crucial component of risk assessment plans. In this work, 20,319 water samples were collected in 3,983 environmental surveys during a 16-year period by ARPA, the...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2019-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218687 |
| _version_ | 1819108564537442304 |
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| author | Antonella Felice Marinella Franchi Stefano De Martin Nicola Vitacolonna Lucilla Iacumin Marcello Civilini |
| author_facet | Antonella Felice Marinella Franchi Stefano De Martin Nicola Vitacolonna Lucilla Iacumin Marcello Civilini |
| author_sort | Antonella Felice |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Legionella spp. are considered an important cause of potentially preventable morbidity and mortality, making environmental surveillance a crucial component of risk assessment plans. In this work, 20,319 water samples were collected in 3,983 environmental surveys during a 16-year period by ARPA, the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection, Friuli Venezia Giulia, and the results were studied to better understand the diffusion mechanisms of Legionella. The data showed a strong seasonal signal, a prevalence of L. pneumophila serogroup 2-15 in most environments (63% of positive samples), a prevalence of L. pneumophila serogroup 1 in swimming pool-associated environments (82% of positive samples), a persistent presence of Legionella in hospitals and a recurrent presence of Legionella in other facilities such as hotels, possibly years after interventions, highlighting the difficulty of eradicating the bacteria. Retrospective spatio-temporal analyses on geocoded historical data were carried out with SaTScan using an ordinal model with risk as a covariate to identify potential clusters with an excess of cases in the higher-risk categories. Although no outbreaks occurred during the period of study, such analyses identified spatially restricted zones with unusual contamination, which sometimes were also areas in which several surveys triggered by notifications of clinical cases were performed. Simulations of periodic prospective analyses permitted the assessment of the efficacy of the method in early detection of such clusters. The proposed method may be a useful tool in environmental surveillance, prevention and control of Legionella. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T03:11:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0f1c1e2831e245ab9e57b92dc0d4a306 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T03:11:56Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-0f1c1e2831e245ab9e57b92dc0d4a3062022-12-21T18:40:55ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032019-01-01147e021868710.1371/journal.pone.0218687Environmental surveillance and spatio-temporal analysis of Legionella spp. in a region of northeastern Italy (2002-2017).Antonella FeliceMarinella FranchiStefano De MartinNicola VitacolonnaLucilla IacuminMarcello CiviliniLegionella spp. are considered an important cause of potentially preventable morbidity and mortality, making environmental surveillance a crucial component of risk assessment plans. In this work, 20,319 water samples were collected in 3,983 environmental surveys during a 16-year period by ARPA, the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection, Friuli Venezia Giulia, and the results were studied to better understand the diffusion mechanisms of Legionella. The data showed a strong seasonal signal, a prevalence of L. pneumophila serogroup 2-15 in most environments (63% of positive samples), a prevalence of L. pneumophila serogroup 1 in swimming pool-associated environments (82% of positive samples), a persistent presence of Legionella in hospitals and a recurrent presence of Legionella in other facilities such as hotels, possibly years after interventions, highlighting the difficulty of eradicating the bacteria. Retrospective spatio-temporal analyses on geocoded historical data were carried out with SaTScan using an ordinal model with risk as a covariate to identify potential clusters with an excess of cases in the higher-risk categories. Although no outbreaks occurred during the period of study, such analyses identified spatially restricted zones with unusual contamination, which sometimes were also areas in which several surveys triggered by notifications of clinical cases were performed. Simulations of periodic prospective analyses permitted the assessment of the efficacy of the method in early detection of such clusters. The proposed method may be a useful tool in environmental surveillance, prevention and control of Legionella.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218687 |
| spellingShingle | Antonella Felice Marinella Franchi Stefano De Martin Nicola Vitacolonna Lucilla Iacumin Marcello Civilini Environmental surveillance and spatio-temporal analysis of Legionella spp. in a region of northeastern Italy (2002-2017). PLoS ONE |
| title | Environmental surveillance and spatio-temporal analysis of Legionella spp. in a region of northeastern Italy (2002-2017). |
| title_full | Environmental surveillance and spatio-temporal analysis of Legionella spp. in a region of northeastern Italy (2002-2017). |
| title_fullStr | Environmental surveillance and spatio-temporal analysis of Legionella spp. in a region of northeastern Italy (2002-2017). |
| title_full_unstemmed | Environmental surveillance and spatio-temporal analysis of Legionella spp. in a region of northeastern Italy (2002-2017). |
| title_short | Environmental surveillance and spatio-temporal analysis of Legionella spp. in a region of northeastern Italy (2002-2017). |
| title_sort | environmental surveillance and spatio temporal analysis of legionella spp in a region of northeastern italy 2002 2017 |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218687 |
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