Novel Legionella species discovered in a hotel during environmental surveillance

Legionella environmental surveillance in artificial water distribution systems is an important public health issue and essential to prevent the risk of infection. This study describes the steps carried out to isolate and characterize atypical Legionella isolates found during hotel Legionella surveillance. Combining the traditional with new molecular approach, it is possible to isolate new Legionella species, extending the knowledges on Legionella community. The strain’s features, the discrepancy between macrophage infectivity potentior (mip ), β-subunit of RNA polymerase (rpoB ) and reference gene sequences, the whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data demonstrate how the isolates belonging to a novel Legionella species. Giving more attention to atypical isolates is possible to characterize new species also during routine surveillance, improving the etiology of Legionella . The characterization of this newly discovered isolates is currently submitted in official journal for new taxa description.