Monitoring of Legionella pneumophila viability after chlorine dioxide treatment using flow cytometry

The viability of three Legionella pneumophila strains was monitored after chlorine dioxide (ClO2) treatment using a flow cytometric assay. Suspensions of L. pneumophila cells were submitted to increasing concentrations of ClO2. Culturable cells were still detected when using 4 mg/L, but could no longer be detected after exposure to 6 mg/L of ClO2, although viable but not culturable (VBNC) cells were found after exposure to 4–5 mg/L of ClO2. When testing whether these VBNC were infective, two of the strains were resuscitated after co-culture with Acanthamoeba polyphaga, but neither of them could infect macrophage-like cells.