Legionella Clinical Culture
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| WSLH Department: | CDD - Communicable Disease Division |
| WSLH Test Code: | MP00420 |
| Day(s) Performed: | Monday - Friday |
| Turn-around Time: | 14-16 days |
| Recommended Uses: | To support diagnosis of Legionnaire's Disease in the acute phase of illness. |
| Pre-approval: | No |
| 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 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. |
| 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 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. |
| Collection Kit/Container: |
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| Requisition Form: |
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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 which is required to have a minimum of two identifiers. |
| Rejection Criteria: | |
| Specimen Handling: | 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. |
| Packaging Requirements: | |
| Courier Information: | Eligible for fee-exempt courier if submitted for surveillance (known positive patients). Contact Purple Mountain Dispatch at 800-990-9668 for specimen pick up. |
| Specimen Receiving Hours: | Monday-Friday 6:00 AM - 4:30 PM, Saturday 6:30 AM - 12:30 PM |
| Results Include: | Legionella species and serogroup 1 |
| 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 testing may provide a faster diagnosis for common strains (testing not available at WSLH). |
| Additional Comments: |
| Methodology: | Bacterial culture and identification using real-time PCR for species and serogrouping / MALDI-TOF |
| Includes: | Isolation and identification of Legionella species. |
| Regulatory Compliance: | Exempt |
| CPT Code: | 87081 |
| Price: | $92.00 |
| Fee Exempt Eligible: | Yes, for known positive patients for surveillance or with health department pre-approval to support outbreak investigations. |
| Billing and Revenue Office: | 1-800-862-1065 arbill@slh.wisc.edu |