Antibiotic resistance and azithromycin resistance mechanism of Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 in China

: Legionnaires' disease, caused by Legionella pneumophila, has been treated primarily with antibiotics. However, few reports have been published on antibiotic-resistant Legionella in China. Our aim was to determine the azithromycin resistance mechanism of L. pneumophila serogroup 1 in China. The sensitivities of 149 L. pneumophila serogroup 1 strains, isolated from clinical cases or environmental water in China from 2002 to 2016, to five antibiotics, including erythromycin, azithromycin, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, and rifampin, were evaluated. The mechanisms of the resistance of L. pneumophila serogroup 1 to azithromycin were studied. The expression levels of efflux pump gene lpeAB and the MIC of azithromycin-resistant strains in the presence and absence of the efflux pump inhibitor carbonyl cyanide-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) were determined. All 149 strains were sensitive to erythromycin, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, and rifampin, among which 25 of the strains exhibited azithromycin resistance. These 25 strains, including strains of sequence type 1 (ST1), ST144, ST150, ST154, and ST629, were screened. Expression of lpeAB was responsible for the reduced azithromycin susceptibility in all 25 of these strains. The phenotypes of 25 strains with virulence were linked by evaluating the intracellular growth ability in mouse macrophage J774 cells. Among the 25 strains, 60% were more virulent than the ATCC 33152 reference strain. The results determined in our study represent data supporting the further study of the antibiotic sensitivity of L. pneumophila strains in China.