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Community-Acquired Legionella pneumophila Pneumonia

Diego Viasus, Silvana Di Yacovo, Carolina García‐Vidal, Ricard Verdaguer, Frederic Manresa, Jordi Dorca, Francesc Gudiol, Jordi Carratalà

Medicine, 2012

3,934 participants · 128 citations

Abstract

Legionella pneumophila has been increasingly recognized as a cause of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and an important public health problem worldwide. We conducted the present study to assess trends in epidemiology, diagnosis, clinical features, treatment, and outcomes of sporadic community-acquired L. pneumophila pneumonia requiring hospitalization at a university hospital over a 15-year period (1995-2010). Among 3934 nonimmunosuppressed hospitalized patients with CAP, 214 (5.4%) had L. pneumophila pneumonia (16 cases were categorized as travel-associated pneumonia, and 21 were part of small clusters). Since the introduction of the urinary antigen test, the diagnosis of L. pneumophila using this method remained stable over the years (p = 0.42); however, diagnosis by means of seroconversion and culture decreased (p 65 yr) and comorbidities among patients with L. pneumophila pneumonia increased over the years (p = 0.06 and p = 0.02, respectively). In addition, 100 (46.9%) patients were classified into high-risk classes according to the Pneumonia Severity Index (groups IV-V). Twenty-four (11.2%) patients with L. pneumophila pneumonia received inappropriate empirical antibiotic therapy at hospital admission. Compared with patients who received appropriate empirical antibiotic, patients who received inappropriate therapy more frequently had acute onset of illness (p = 0.004), pleuritic chest pain (p = 0.03), and pleural effusion (p = 0.05). The number of patients who…

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