IDEXX, a specialist in rapid microbiology testing for water, has announced the launch across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, of Legiolert, a new culture testing method that it says enables building owners and facility managers to simplify water testing and reduce the risk posed by Legionnaires’ disease.
The company explained: “Legiolert is a highly sensitive method for the confirmed detection of Legionella pneumophila in water, and delivers results up to seven days faster than traditional testing methods. L. pneumophila is the most common Legionella species in water, and the primary cause of Legionnaires’ disease.”
Launched in 2016 in North America, Legiolert provides a confirmed result in 7 days, ‘compared with up to 14 days with traditional culture methods’. The new test ‘does not require laborious colony counting or confirmation steps, reducing the need for training, and the risk of interpretation errors, and freeing up time for laboratory staff’.
The Legiolert test is based on a bacterial enzyme detection technology that signals the presence of L. pneumophila through utilisation of a substrate present in the Legiolert reagent.
