| Legionella Clinical Culture |
| WSLH Department: | CDD - Communicable Disease Division |
| WSLH Test Code: | MP00420 |
| CPT Code: | 87081 |
| Price: | $84.00 as of 1/1/23 |
| Includes: | Isolation and identification of Legionella species. |
| Methodology: | Bacterial culture and identification using real-time PCR for species and serogrouping / MALDI-TOF |
| Availability: | Monday - Friday |
| Turn-around Time: | 7-14 days |
| Recommended Uses: | To support diagnosis of Legionnaire's Disease in the acute phase of illness. |
| Contraindications: | This test is for clinical use only, not for use with environmental samples. |
| Specimen Requirements: | Lung tissue, pleural fluid, transtracheal aspirate, lower respiratory secretions (sputum, bronchial wash etc.) |
| Collection Kit/Container: | TB Sputum/Legionella |
| Patient Preparation: | Collect pea-sized piece of tissue and/or 5-30 ml of secretions. Add a small amount of sterile distilled water to lung tissue if necessary to prevent drying. Do not use sterile saline for specimen collection as Legionella sp. are inhibited by saline. |
| Collection Instructions: | |
| Specimen Handling and Transport: | Specimens should be held at 2-8C and tissues should not be allowed to dry out.
Transport with a cool pack. |
| Unacceptable Conditions: | |
| Requisition Form: | CDD Requisition Form A |
| Required Information: | Laboratory regulations require the following minimum information to be provided on the requisition form for a specimen to be accepted for testing: Patient name or unique identifier; date and time of collection, patient date of birth and sex, specimen type/site of collection, test request(s), clinician name and UPIN, and address for reporting results. Please be certain that name/identifier on the form matches that on the specimen label. |
| Results include: | |
| Limitations: | Lung tissue and transtracheal aspirate have the highest yield of positive results. Sputum and pleural fluid have a lower yield. This test is not for environmental samples. |
| Additional Tests Recommended: | Legionella urine antigen |
| Additional Comments: | Legionella urine antigen sent to a reference lab. |
| Additional Tests Performed: | |
