Request CDC Assistance

Key points

  • Health department personnel can request CDC assistance with investigating potential outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease.
  • The public should direct inquiries about Legionnaires' disease in general to CDC-INFO.
  • The public should direct questions about specific case or outbreak investigations to the relevant state, territorial, or local health department.

Contacts

Public assistance‎

Any member of the public can contact CDC-INFO at


1-800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636)
TTY: (888) 232-6348

Prefer email? Write to CDC-INFO

CDC staff provide limited consultation on investigations to health department personnel via phone and email. This includes facilitating communication among state health departments with travel-associated cases or outbreaks. Field assistance is available via the Epi-Aid request process.

To request epidemiologic or environmental health assistance, email travellegionella@cdc.gov.

CDC's Legionella laboratory provides services, including culture of clinical specimens and isolate typing. Public health laboratories are encouraged to submit clinical isolates for confirmation. Contact the laboratory by emailing legionellalab@cdc.gov.

Requirements

The laboratory requires a consultation prior to submission of clinical specimens. When testing is requested as part of an outbreak investigation, epidemiologic consultation is also needed.

Testing environmental samples and isolates

CDC laboratory testing of environmental samples and isolates is only done under special circumstances. Examples include an outbreak investigation involving CDC or with prior permission from CDC for submission of samples.

Resources

Listings of health department directories

Legionella Reference Center expands nation's lab capacity‎

With support from CDC, this reference center accepts testing requests from enrolled governmental public health or environmental laboratories. It performs Legionella testing on clinical specimens and isolates, as well as preapproved outbreak samples.
Learn about the center's services
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Content Source:
National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; National Center for Environmental Health