Persistent presence of outer membrane epitopes during short- and long-term starvation of five Legionella pneumophila strains.

The results demonstrate the continuous presence of outer membrane epitopes of L. pneumophila during short-term and long-term starvation. Thus, culture-independent mAb-based diagnostic and detection tools, such as immuno-magnetic separation and microarray techniques are applicable for both L. pneumophila in the culturable and the VBNC state even after long-term starvation but nevertheless require careful testing before application. However, the mere presence of those epitopes is not necessarily an indication of viability or infectivity.