Legionnaires’ disease: Thematic review and hospital statistics
Keywords:
Legionella, Legionnaires’ disease, diagnosis, notification, statisticsAbstract
Identified since 1976, Legionella is a microorganism increasingly
acknowledged as a cause of pneumonia, particularly the most
severe forms. Diagnostic methods have improved being otherwise
available. Antibiotic treatment started early is usually efficient, but
some cases still evolve with respiratory distress and failure or even
multiorgan dysfunction. Since 1999 that Legionnaires’ disease is
subject to Compulsory Notification in Portugal.
Authors begin with a thematic review of this entity presenting
afterwards their Hospital statistics. They have identified all Legionella cases in the Hospital, from January 2000 to September
2007, featuring their demographic and epidemiologic data, risk
factors, clinical aspects, complementary exams, specific laboratorial diagnosis, chosen therapy, complications and results; and
confronting data with the adequacy of the disease codification in
the final diagnosis and notification statistics.
Downloads
References
Stout JE, Yu VL. Legionellosis. N Eng J Med Sept 1997; 337: 682-687.
Marrie TJ, Peeling RW, Fine MJ, Singer DE, Coley CM, Kapoor WN. Ambulatory patients with community-acquired pneumonia: the frequency of atypical agents and clinical course. Am J Med 1996;101:508-515.
Hugo JP, Anderson KAJ, Wiebe T et al. Nosocomial transmission of Legionella pneumophila in cold water supply. Scand J Infect Dis. November 2006; 38: 1023-1027.
Seenivasan MH, Yu VL, Muder RR. Legionnaires’ disease in long-term care facilities: overview and proposed solutions. J Am Geriatr Soc May 2005; 3(5): 75-80.
Amsden GW. Treatment of Legionnaires’ disease. Drugs. 2005; 5(5): 605-614.
www.dgs.pt. Estatísticas. Doenças de Declaração Obrigatória.
Fields BS, Benson RF, Besser RE. Legionella and Legionnaires’ Disease: 25 years of investigation. Clin Microb Reviews 2002; 15: 506-526.
Den Boer JW, Yzerman EP. Diagnosis of Legionella infection in Legionnaires’ isease. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis Dec 2004; 23(12): 871-878.
Nguyen TM, Ilef D, Jarraud S, Rouil L, Campese C, Che D. A community-wide outbreak of Legionnaires disease linked to industrial cooling towers-how far can contaminated aerosols spread?. J Infect Dis Jan 2006; 193(1): 102-111.
Cunha BA. Legionella pneumonia: The value of clinical and laboratory findings. J Respir Dis 2005; 26: 469-460.
Cunha BA. The atypical pneumonias: clinical diagnosis and importance. Clin Microbiol Infect May 2006; 12 Suppl 3: 12-24.
Rathore MH. Legionella infection. emedicine Aug 2007.
Blazquez RM, Espinosa FJ, Martinez-Toldos CM et al. Sensitivity of urinary antigen test in relation to clinical severity in a large outbreak of Legionella pneumonia in Spain. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 2005; 24: 488.
Kashuba AD, Ballow CH. Legionella urinary antigen testing: potential impact on diagnosis and antibiotic therapy. Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis Mar 1996; 24(3): 129-139.
Helbig JH, Engelstadter T, Maiwald M et al. Diagnostic relevance of the detection of Legionella DNA in urine samples by the polymerase chain reaction. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis Oct 1999; 18(10): 716-722.
Blasquez GRM, Espinosa PFJ, Alemany FL et al. Antimicrobial chemotherapy for Legionella: levofloxacin versus macrolides. Clin Infect Dis Mar 2005; 40(6): 800-806.
Programa de vigilância epidemiológica integrada da Doença dos Legionários: notificação clínica e laboratorial de casos e investigação epidemiológica. DGS, Circulares Normativas 05/DT e 06/DT. Abril 2004.
Additional Files
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2023 Medicina Interna
Open Access
