Patent ID: 7935521

Claim:
A method of rapidly quantifying viable Legionella bacteria and total heterotrophic aerobic bacteria in a sample, the method comprising: (a) providing a dip-slide comprising an absorbent medium, wherein the absorbent medium comprises nutrients for culturing Legionella and separately at least one agent to selectively inhibit the growth of non- Legionella microorganisms; (b) contacting the dip-slide with the sample for a predetermined amount of time, wherein the dip-slide is calibrated to absorb a predetermined amount of the sample; (c) incubating the dip-slide at a temperature in the range of 30° C. to about 45° C. for a period of 6-93 hours, less than required for the standard method, which takes at least 10 days; (d) detecting growth of Legionella bacteria on the dip-slide with a detection reagent, wherein the detection agent selectively identifies Legionella ; and (e) quantifying the amount of viable Legionella bacteria and total heterotrophic aerobic bacteria in the sample.