Abstract
An outbreak of Legionnaires' pneumonia occurred at a nursing home in December 1990. A 79-year-old female and a 73-year-old male clerk who were staying at the nursing home developed pneumonia with only a 5-day interval. Legionella pneumophila serogroup I was isolated from transtracheal aspirate of the former and sputum of the latter. After treatment with a combination of erythromycin and rifampicin both patients improved. Serological surveillance of inpatients and staff of the nursing home was performed in February 1991. Seven out of 51 samples (14.0%) showed a titer higher than 1:128 of anti-Legionella pneumophila serogroup I antibody determined by indirect immunofluorecence; two of these seven complained of respiratory symptoms. Molecular epidemiology analyzed by restriction endonuclease digestion of isolated L. pneumophila showed an identical pattern which suggested a common origin.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 508-512 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Internal Medicine |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1992 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Legionella pneumophila serogroup I
- anti-Legionella antibody titer
- molecular epidemiology
- transtracheal aspiration
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Internal Medicine