Legionellae isolated from clinical and environmental samples in Spain (1983-90): monoclonal typing of Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 isolates.

Legionella isolates recovered in 21 different Spanish provinces over 8 years from both clinical (67 isolates) and environmental (181) samples, mostly from case-associated buildings, are described; 92.5% of clinical isolates were L. pneumophila serogroup 1 (SG1), only five isolates belonging to other species or serogroups: two L. pneumophila SG6, two SG8 and one L. bozemanii SG1 not clearly related with clinical infection. L. pneumophila SG1 accounted for 53.6% of isolates from the environment, followed by SG8 (27.6%), SG3 (9.4%) and SG6 (7.2%). Three isolates were labelled as SG8/10. Subtyping of L. pneumophila SG1 by the standardized panel of monoclonal antibodies revealed 90.3% of clinical and 78.3% of environmental isolates as belonging to Pontiac subgroup. Pontiac isolates were further divided into 55.3% Philadelphia 1 or Allentown 1, 21.9% Benidorm 030E and 20.4% Knoxville 1. Characterization of samples from four outbreaks in which both clinical and environmental isolates had been recovered permitted the recognition of three Philadelphia 1 or Allentown 1 and one Knoxville 1 strains as the aetiological agents.