Legionnaires' disease test as a simple, efficient and inexpensive routine procedure

Legionnaires' disease is an important acute respiratory infectious disease that is highly valued by all countries in the world and affects public health. The Ministry of Health of the Chinese government issued two documents in 2003 and 2006, requiring local disease control units to supervise Legionella in centralized air conditioners in public places (Beijing required compulsory supervision in 2007). The hospital-acquired Legionella pneumonia, which is common in the hospital system and has a high mortality rate, is mainly caused by Legionella in the hospital pipeline water for a long time. The only basis for clinical diagnosis of Legionnaires' disease is laboratory tests, and the results are also the only basis for clinicians to carry out high-dose antibiotic treatment. All these urgently need us to do the corresponding inspection and monitoring work.

But in general. The detection of Legionnaires' disease and Legionella in the vast disease control and hospital system in China is still in a very weak state. Therefore, in fact, the disease control system failed to effectively monitor Legionnaires' disease and Legionella. Many patients with acquired Legionella pneumonia in hospitals were missed diagnosis and misdiagnosed, thus losing the chance to cure or even save lives.

There are three reasons for this Legionnaires' disease and Legionnaires' weak state:

1. Legionella inspection procedures are relatively complex, and the preparation of its inspection products requires a variety of imported raw materials and related technologies. Therefore, it is very difficult and unrealistic for busy disease control and clinical laboratories to be done by themselves.

2. There is no complete series of Legionella inspection products in China; and the products of large foreign companies are usually not only incomplete and unstable in supply, but also too expensive.

3. Lack of a simple Legionella test procedure that is excellent and suitable for routine testing.

The author of this article has been engaged in routine and research work in the field of infectious disease microorganisms in the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention for decades. He is also the first member of the research on Legionella testing methods and products in China. Thousands of Legionella specimens, especially environmental monitoring specimens, have been done. Willing to work hard to pool their years of knowledge and work experience to solve the above three problems innovatively. Already done:

1. A simple, easy-to-use, efficient and cheaper Legionella test procedure has indeed been established.

Has established a number of their own innovation point of Legionnaires' disease more complete Legionella inspection series products, and can achieve high quality and low price and stable supply. The quality of our legionella culture medium is by no means inferior to that of large foreign companies; our legionella specimen membrane filtration system is significantly better than similar foreign products (see product introduction. According to our actual operation experience, this filtration system can complete the treatment of 100 pipeline water samples in one working day); Our "Legionella Typing Serum" can basically make the correct final typing of each Legionella strain encountered; we also have our own original "clinical strains and environmental strains identification kit", "complete biochemical identification kit" and two-color agar (see related products). But the price is far lower than similar products of large foreign companies.

3. Provide non-profit technical services to the majority of disease control units and hospitals at all levels.

In short, we believe that we can help any willing provincial, municipal, district, county disease control units and large and small hospitals to carry out and do a good job in the monitoring and inspection of Legionnaires' disease and Legionella in more, faster, better and provincial areas.

Finally, in order to help further understand the long-term problem of Legionella bacteria in the pipeline water supply system of the hospital (which is the main cause of the common and high mortality rate of hospital-acquired Legionnaires' disease), we translated a foreign review article: Hospital-acquired Legionnaires' disease and its countermeasures for your reference (please refer to related content).

Shanghai Comaga Microbial Technology Co., Ltd. Chen Changyi

8 July 2008