One Lab’s Experience of Testing for Legionella

Episode 1,   Dec 22, 2020, 11:59 AM

In this episode on Legionella testing, we have Ray Petrisek, a principal investigator in the discovery of Legionella in the ‘70s, who gives advice on testing and sampling for Legionella and the limitations and advantages of test kits in today’s market.
 
Timestamps:
[4:47] - Legionella discovery in the lab
[12:13] - Testing for Legionella in Potable water
[13:51] - Sampling: “Look for the biofilm, and you’ll find Legionella”
[21:21] - Limitations with plate-based method & PCR
[29:54] - Preferred test method; IDEXX Legiolert
[35:13] - Ongoing problems with Legionella

Speaker:
Raymond Petrisek serves as a senior microbiologist and infectious disease microbiologist at HP Environmental. He is certified by the American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP), both as a medical technologist (MT) and specialist in microbiology (SM). Ray has over 35 years of experience in medical and healthcare environmental management and environmental microbiology. Among his many responsibilities, he conducts numerous investigations including but not limited to indoor air quality investigations and assessments of water-damaged or mold-impacted building materials.