LEGIONELLA - World Health Organization

1.4.2 Species and serogroups associated with disease
Number of species and serogroups
The “type” or representative species of Legionella is L. pneumophila, because it was the first species
to be described. The number of species, subspecies and serogroups of legionellae continues to
increase. Although L. pneumophila causes most cases of Legionnaires’ disease, other species
can also cause the disease, particularly in nosocomial cases. The genus Legionella currently has at
least 50 species comprising 70 distinct serogroups. These serogroups and their clinical manifestations
are shown in Table 1.9 (Drozanski, 1991; Hookey et al., 1996; Riffard et al., 1996; Fry & Harrison,
1998; Fields, Benson & Besser, 2002; La Scola et al., 2004). There are 16 serogroups of L. pneumophila
— two each in L. bozemanii, L. longbeachae, L. feeleii, L. hackeliae, L. sainthelensi, L. spiritensis,
L. erythra, and L. quinlivanii, and a single serogroup in each of the remaining species.
Table . Legionella spec es and serogroups
Legionella spec es
Serogroups
Assoc at on
w th cl n cal
cases Reference
L. adelaidensis Unknown Benson et al., 1996a; Benson & Fields, 1998
L. anisa Yes Bornstein et al., 1989a; Fenstersheib et al.,
1990; Thacker et al., 1990
L. beliardensis Unknown Lo Presti et al., 2001
L. birminghamensis Yes Wilkinson et al., 1987;
L. bozemanii 2 Yes Boldur et al., 1985; Bornstein et al., 1987;
Bazovska & Spalekova, 1994
L. brunensis Unknown Wilkinson et al., 1988
L. busanensis Unknown Park et al., 2003
L. cherrii Unknown Brenner et al., 1985; Edelstein & Edelstein, 1989
L. cincinnatiensis Yes Thacker et al., 1988a; Jernigan et al., 1994;
Spieker et al., 1998
L. drozanskii Unknown Adeleke et al., 2001
L. dumoffii Yes Edelstein & Pryor, 1985; Fang, Yu & Vickers, 1989
L. drancourtii Unknown La Scola et al., 2004
L. erythra 2 Yes Brenner et al., 1985; Saunders, Doshi &
Harrison, 1992; Fields, Benson & Besser, 2002
L. fairfieldensis Unknown Thacker et al., 1991
L. fallonii Unknown Adeleke et al., 2001
L. feeleii Yes Herwaldt et al., 1984
L. geestiana Unknown Dennis et al., 1993
L. genomospecies 1 Unknown Benson et al., 1996b
L. gormanii Yes Lode et al., 1987; Griffith et al., 1988
LEGIONELLA AND THE PREVENTION OF LEGIONELLOSIS