Collect pea-sized piece of tissue and/or 5-30 mL of fluid (sputum, BAL or tracheal aspirates). 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.

Lung tissue, pleural fluid, transtracheal aspirate, lower respiratory secretions (sputum, bronchial wash, etc.)

Collect each specimen in sterile leak-proof container and refrigerate (2-8°C) immediately. Primary specimens must be tested within 3 days of collection. If specimens will not be tested for 3 or more days, they should be stored at -20°C until ready for shipment. 

8 TB Sputum/Legionella

CDD General Requisition Form

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 which is required to have a minimum of two identifiers.

Store specimens at 2-8°C or -20°C if testing will occur more than 3 days after collection. Tissues should not be allowed to dry out. Transport with a frozen cold pack or dry ice if frozen.

Category B Shipping

Store specimens at 2-8°C or -20°C if testing will occur more than 3 days after collection. Tissues should not be allowed to dry out. Transport with a frozen cold pack or dry ice if frozen.

Eligible for fee-exempt courier if submitted for surveillance (e.g., specimens collected from known positive patients). Contact Purple Mountain Dispatch at 800-990-9668 for specimen pick up.

Monday-Friday 6:00 AM - 4:30 PM, Saturday 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM

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.

Legionella RT-PCR (Test Code MP00441). Legionella urine antigen testing may provide a faster diagnosis for common strains (urine antigen testing not available at WSLH). 

Conventional bacterial culture and identification using MALDI-TOF; RT-PCR for species identification and serogrouping

Isolation and identification of Legionella species. May include RT-PCR for the detection of DNA specific for Legionella, L. pneumophila species, and serogroup 1 from recovered isolates.

Yes, for known positive patients for surveillance or with health department pre-approval to support outbreak investigations.

1-800-862-1065 arbill@slh.wisc.edu