Manageiro V, Borges V, Rodrigues R, Bettencourt C, Silva C, Gomes JP, Gonçalves P.
Highlights:
- The Vila Franca de Xira outbreak in Portugal is one of the largest reported of LD (>400 cases and 14 deaths)
- The outbreak was associated with ST 1905 of L. pneumophila subspecies fraseri serogroup 1 strain, which probably originated from a local industrial cooling tower.
- The results strongly indicate that ST1905 strain is potentially persistent in diverse and geographically dispersed environments, far beyond the 2014 outbreak in Vila Franca de Xira.
- The authors observed traits which raise additional uncertainties regarding the ST1905 strain and its ability to further adapt and persist in the environment and, ultimately, cause human disease.
- They cannot make conclusions about a potential adaptive role of the observed mutations, but it has been hypothesized that mutations found exclusively in clinical isolates, as in their study, might reflect human-specific adaptation.