Publications

community-acquired legionellosis in singapore.	patients admitted to hospital with chest infections were examined serologically to see if these were due to legionella pneumophila. each of the 219 samples of serum collected from 177 patients was examined by two standard tests. the tests, which generally agreed, identified three individuals (1.7% of the group) who had sufficient antibody to suggest that they were suffering from current legionellosis. serological evidence of previous infection was discovered (with differing degrees of certainty) ...	1991	1803979
the specificity of a rapid method of assay for the presence of legionella species in water.	a rapid method of assay, using a monoclonal antibody linked to alkaline phosphatase, was used for the detection of the pontiac subgroup of legionella pneumophila serogroup 1. it was tested for its specificity against 53 strains of legionella recently isolated from the environment in singapore and malaysia. the specificity and sensitivity of this method of assay was confirmed, though there is some concern that the specificity was too narrow, and there are reservations about the criteria suggested ...	1989	2679337
legionella species, serogroups and subgroups found in the environment in singapore.	over a period of seven months, 87 samples of water collected from 48 air-conditioning cooling-towers on 15 sites in singapore yielded 19 strains of legionella. legionellas were found in 7 of the 15 sites. the strains isolated fell into 7 species, serogroups or subgroups of the genus legionella. only 11% of them belonged to the more pathogenic pontiac subgroup of legionella pneumophila serogroup 1.	1989	2802506
sero-survey for legionella pneumophila antibodies--singapore experience.	one hundred and fifty blood bank donors were sero-surveyed for legionella antibodies by indirect immunofluorescence test using a polyvalent antigen group (1 to 4). 20% of the group surveyed had an antibody titre greater than or equal to 16 to the organism. this paper also reports a study on 166 hospitalised acute pneumonia patients. the sera from these patients were screened for l. pneumophila antibodies; 5 of the patients had significant antibody titre greater than or equal to 256 which is diag ...	1987	3328553
legionnaires' disease--report of singapore's first local case.	a previously healthy 27 year-old male plumber presented with six days of fever, nausea, vomiting, malaise and headache. the subsequent development of cough, dyspnoea and pleuritic pain coincided with the simultaneous development of progressive bilateral cavitary pneumonia with pleural effusion. leucocytosis, thrombocytopenia, hyponatraemia, hypoalbuminaemia, hypophosphataemia and hypoxaemia were the main laboratory abnormalities. clinical suspicion of legionnaires' disease was confirmed by the p ...	1986	3551784
isolation of legionella pneumophila from hospital cooling towers.	water from twenty cooling towers from three major hospitals (a, b, c) were screened for the presence of legionella pneumophila. three of the water specimens were found to be positive for the organism. serogroup 1 was isolated from the two cooling towers in hospital a, while serogroup 4 was isolated from one of the cooling towers in hospital b, this being the first time l. pneumophila has been isolated in singapore.	1986	3707035
comparison of multiplex pcr and culture for detection of legionellae in cooling tower water samples.	we compared multiplex polymerase chain reaction (pcr) and culture for detecting the presence of legionella pneumophila and legionella spp in cooling tower water samples. multiplex pcr was performed after phenol extraction of dna from the samples. the set of primers for the pcr assay involved the 5s rrna (legionella spp) and the mip (macrophage infectivity potentiator gene, specific for l. pneumophila) genes as target sequences for amplification. both the sensitivity and the specificity of the pc ...	1995	8629056
surveillance of legionellosis and legionella bacteria in the built environment in singapore.	during the period 1986 to 1996, a total of 258 sporadic cases of community-acquired legionellosis was reported, giving a mean annual morbidity rate of 0.9 per 100,000 population. majority of the cases (91.5%) was serologically diagnosed by the indirect fluorescent antibody (ifa) test against legionella pneumophila based on single sera with a titre of > or = 1:1024. the others were confirmed by a four-fold increase in ifa titre to a minimum of 1:128 (7.4%) and by culture (1.1%). cases were report ...	1997	9494658
surveillance, prevention, and control of legionellosis in a tropical city-state.	legionellosis is endemic in singapore, with sporadic cases reported throughout the year. the absence of outbreak could be due to the low prevalence of the highly pathogenic pontiac subtype of legionella pneumophila in the urban environment. mandatory maintenance of cooling towers and water fountains has been put in place, and the effectiveness of legislation in minimizing the occurrence and risk of outbreak of legionellosis is being evaluated.	2005	15947745
epidemiology and control of legionellosis, singapore.	to determine trends and clinical and epidemiologic features of legionellosis in singapore, we studied cases reported during 2000-2009. during this period, 238 indigenous and 33 imported cases of legionellosis were reported. cases were reported individually and sporadically throughout each year. although the annual incidence of indigenous cases had decreased from 0.46 cases per 100,000 population in 2003 to 0.16 cases per 100,000 in 2009, the proportion of imported cases increased correspondingly ...	2011	21762574