Legionella Clinical Culture !!! NOTE: The contents are valid only for: 06/07/2025 !!!
| WSLH Department: | CDD - Communicable Disease Division |
| WSLH Test Code: | MP00420 |
| Day(s) Performed: | Monday - Friday |
| Turn-around Time: | 7-14 days |
| Recommended Uses: | To support diagnosis of Legionnaire's Disease in the acute phase of illness. |
| Pre-approval: | N |
| Contraindications: | This test is for clinical use only, not for use with environmental samples. |
| Additional Tests Performed: |
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| Preparation for Collection: | 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. |
| Specimen Requirements: | Lung tissue, pleural fluid, transtracheal aspirate, lower respiratory secretions (sputum, bronchial wash etc.) |
| Collection Instructions: | Collect each specimen in sterile leak-proof container. Primary specimens can be stored at 2-8°C until transport and transported with a cool pack. Primary specimens must be tested within 3 days of collection per CDC guidance. If specimens will not be tested for 3 or more days, they should be stored at -20°C until ready for shipment and shipped on dry ice. |
| Collection Kit/Container: |
TB Sputum/Legionella
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| Requisition Form: |
CDD Requisition Form A
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| 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. |
| Rejection Criteria: | |
| Specimen Handling: | Specimens should be held at 2-8C and tissues should not be allowed to dry out. Transport with a frozen cool pack. |
| Packaging Requirements: | |
| Courier Information: | |
| Specimen Receiving Hours: | Monday-Friday 7:45 AM - 4:30 PM, Saturday 7:45 AM - 12:00 PM |
| 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 available at reference labs. |
| Methodology: | Bacterial culture and identification using real-time PCR for species and serogrouping / MALDI-TOF |
| Includes: | Isolation and identification of Legionella species. |
| Regulatory Compliance: | |
| CPT Code: | 87081 |
| Price: | $92.00 Price Effective 1/1/25 |
| Fee Exempt Eligible: | N |
| Billing and Revenue Office: | 1-800-862-1065 arbill@slh.wisc.edu |