Select the FALSE Statement Regarding Legionellosis and Its Causative Agent

question 30

Multiple Choice

Select the FALSE statement regarding legionellosis and its causative agent.

• A) The causative organism survives well in the water systems of buildings, particularly in hot water systems, where chlorine levels are generally low.
• B) People become infected with L. pneumophila when they inhale aerosol droplets contaminated with the organism. It is not acquired from other infected individuals.
• C) L. pneumophila produces a β-lactamase, which makes it resistant to many penicillins and some cephalosporins, so is typically treated with a macrolide or a fluoroquinolone.
• D) Legionella pneumophila is an obligate intracellular parasite that survives in ameba in the environment and in kupffer cells in infected people.
• E) L. pneumophila prevents phagosome-lysosome fusion in phagocytes, thus avoiding destruction; the bacteria manipulate conditions to multiply within these cells.