Legionella Clinical Culture Print

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:
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
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.
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
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