Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0023241 (Legionella)
 6,990 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

To identify the etiologic agent of Legionnaire's disease, we examined patients' serum and tissue specimens in a search for toxins, bacteria, fungi, chlamydiae, rickettsiae and viruses. From the lungs of four of six patients we isolated a gram-negative, non-acid-fast bacillus in guinea pigs. The bacillus could be transferred to yolk sacs of embryonated eggs. Classification of this organism is incomplete. We used yolk-sac cultures of the bacillus as antigen to survey suspected serum specimens, employing antihuman-globulin fluorescent antibody. When compared to controls, specimens from 101 to 111 patients meeting clinical criteria of Legionnaires' disease showed diagnostic increases in antibody titers. Diagnostic increases were also found in 54 recent sporadic cases of severe pneumonia and, retrospectively, in stored serum from most patients in two other previously unsolved outbreaks of respiratory disease. We conclude that Legionnaires' disease is caused by a gram-negative bacterium that may be responsible for widespread infection.
 ...
PMID:Legionnaires' disease: isolation of a bacterium and demonstration of its role in other respiratory disease. 33 45

In January 1977 an unsolved outbreak of infection at St. Elizabeth's Hospital (Washington, D.C.) that occurred in 1965 was linked with Legionnaires' disease. The link was made by fluorescent antibody testing with the bacterium isolated from tissues of persons with Legionnaires' disease in the 1976 outbreak in Philadelphia. In July and August 1965, an epidemic of severe respiratory disease characterized by abrupt onset of high fever, weakness, malaise, and nonproductive cough, frequently accompanied by radiographic evidence of pneumonia, affected at least 81 patients at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, a general psychiatric hospital. Fourteen (17%) of the affected patients died. Intensive epidemiologic and laboratory investigations in 1965 did not determine the etiology. The etiologic organism may have become airborne from sites of soil excavation.
 ...
PMID:An outbreak in 1965 of severe respiratory illness caused by the Legionnaires' disease bacterium. 36 97

The indirect fluorescent antibody (FA) technique for the diagnosis of Legionnaires' disease was used to investigate an outbreak of respiratory disease in a military population. The outbreak was later shown to be caused by an adenovirus. High titres were obtained using the ether-killed antigen supplied by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Atlanta, but not with a formolised yolk-sac antigen prepared in out laboratory. The reactivity of these sera with the CDC antigen was removed by absorption with a partly identified gram-positive bacterium, whereas sera from persons with true Legionnaires' disease were unaffected by such treatment, suggesting that such reactivity is not specific for Legionnaires' disease. The lack of reactivity with negative control sera and strong reactivity from a small group of patients in whom seroconversion was demonstrated has led us to conclude that formolised yolk-sac antigen is a reliable antigen for the diagnosis of Legionnaires' disease by the FA method. Measurement of the sensitivity and specificity of the formolised yolk-sac antigen is still in progress.
 ...
PMID:False positive reactions in the indirect fluorescent antibody test for Legionnaires' disease eliminated by use of formolised yolk-sac antigen. 37 53

Since July 1976 when an outbreak of severe, acute respiratory disease of unknown origin occurred among attendees at the 58th Annual Convention of the American Legion in Philadelphia, great progress has been made, including identification of the causative organism, Legionella pneumophila. Clinical features include not only respiratory involvement but often abdominal complaints, encephalopathy, renal disease, and rhabdomyolysis. Erythromycin appears to be an effective antimicrobial agent. Epidemiologic studies have defined epidemics as well as sporadic cases. Legionella pneumophila has appeared as an opportunistic pathogen. Organisms have been isolated from air-handling equipment and evaporative condensers in four instances. At present diagnosis usually is based on the demonstration of a fourfold rise in antibody titer between serum specimens obtained 3 to 6 weeks apart. Recent data suggest that organisms may be shown in tracheal secretions using a direct flluorescent antibody procedure and that antigen may be shown in urine using the microenzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique.
 ...
PMID:Legionnaires' disease: one person's perspective. 37 55

The epidemic of respiratory disease (Legionnaires' disease) occurred after the American Legion convention between 21-24 July 1976 in Philadelphia, USA, similar epidemics occurred previously with unknown etiology in the USA and in England with similar clinical symptoms and pathological findings of the disease, the isolated etiological agent, its morphology culture, pathological findings in laboratory animals, serological and immunofluorescent test, the proposed term for the causative organism (Legionella pneumophila) at the International Symposium on Legionnaires Disease held at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, on November 13th-15th, 1978 are reviewed.
 ...
PMID:[Legionnaires' disease (author's transl)]. 55 2

The Working Party for Legionellosis headed by the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare processed to standardize the diagnostic procedures for Legionella pneumonia, as the first step to clarify the actual occurrence of patients with this respiratory disease. All the clinical data were collected and analysed on the 28 culture-confirmed patients in Japan during the past 11 years, from 1980 through 1990. The 28 patients were distributed throughout Japan, from Hokkaido to Kyushu. Out of 28 patients, 18 were community-acquired and 10 were nosocomially infected. In 8 of 18 community-acquired patients, any significant underlying disease was not observed. Though it was dominant in the age group in their 60s & 70s, victims were distributed in adults over 20 years of age and even in a new born baby. Only 5 out of 28 patients recovered successfully. From the autopsy findings, in 5 out of the remaining 23 expired patients, Legionella pneumonia seemed to be successfully treated, but other disease or other bacterial pneumonia put an end to the patients. The results of clinical laboratory tests and the efficacy of antibiotics to Legionella pneumonia were essentially the same as those reported in the literature.
 ...
PMID:[Culture-positive Legionella pneumonia in Japan, 1980-1990. Working Party for Legionellosis, Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare]. 129 51

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the L-CLONE Legionella pneumophila Serogroup 1 Urine Antigen Latex Test (Access Medical Systems, Inc., Branford, Conn.) for detection of Legionella antigen in urine. A total of 481 frozen urine samples previously tested by an in-house solid-phase radioimmunoassay (RIA) was thawed and retested by using L-CLONE. Included in this sample were 140 RIA-positive samples from culture-positive or serologically confirmed cases of legionellosis and 341 RIA-negative samples from patients with non-Legionella respiratory disease or bacteriuria. The original RIA test result was accepted as the true value. L-CLONE correctly identified 76 of 140 (54%) known positive samples. False-negative results could not be attributed to a low Legionella antigen concentration or to a Legionella antigen subgroup. L-CLONE correctly identified 252 of 341 (74%) known negative samples. False-positive results were experienced in all groups of negative samples, regardless of the patients' underlying diseases. A total of 141 fresh urine samples was tested; all were Legionella antigen negative by RIA. L-CLONE provided 86% specificity. The sensitivity of the L-CLONE in testing fresh urine samples could not be evaluated because of the lack of Legionella antigen RIA-positive samples.
 ...
PMID:Evaluation of the L-CLONE Legionella pneumophila Serogroup 1 Urine Antigen Latex Test. 193 74

The main aim of this study was to measure and explain geographic variations in the incidence of Legionnaires' disease in Scotland, particularly to help understand the source of non-outbreak infection. Between 1978 and 1986 the overall mean annual incidence rate was 7.9 per million (range 3.1-20.2), and for non-outbreak, non-travel cases it was 5.6. There were geographical variations by health board, by city and within cities, e.g. the mean annual incidence rate per million for non-travel, non-outbreak disease was 1.2 in Tayside Health Board, 3.7 in Lanarkshire, 5.6 in Lothian and 14.4 in Greater Glasgow. In Greater Glasgow Health Board non-travel cases lived in and around the city centre and in some postcode sectors there, the mean annual incidence rate exceeded 100. Travel-related cases lived in peripheral areas. These variations could not be explained by differences in access to and use of diagnostic services, surveillance, or host susceptibility (as reflected by socioeconomic status and frequency of other respiratory disease). The explanation probably lay in environmental factors, though differences in agent virulence were not excluded. The two main conclusions are, that non-outbreak cases were not truly sporadic, and that the space-time variations in incidence support the hypothesis that cooling towers were an important source of infection for non-travel, non-outbreak cases. If so such infection is potentially preventable.
 ...
PMID:Variation in time and space of non-outbreak Legionnaires' disease in Scotland. 199 52

Legionnaires' disease is primarily a respiratory disorder, but recently several cases with extrapulmonary manifestations are reported. We report a case of Legionnaires' disease associated with pneumonia, diarrhea, central nerve disorders and rhabdomyolysis. The pathogenesis of rhabdomyolysis in Legionnaires' disease remains speculative. Endotoxin isolated from Legionella pneumophila may play a role in the pathogenesis of the myonecrosis. An additional factor that might contribute to rhabdomyolysis in this case is severe dehydration induced by diarrhea. Pneumonia with elevated CPK levels and myoglobinuria may suggest Legionnaires' disease.
 ...
PMID:[A case of Legionnaires' disease associated with rhabdomyolysis]. 250 24

Legionnaires disease is an acute respiratory disease that is often fatal for immunocompromised patients. The causative agent of this disease, Legionella pneumophila, is a Gram-negative bacterium that is present in a variety of aquatic environments. L. pneumophila is a facultative intracellular parasite; it grows within human phagocytic cells and eventually causes their destruction. In contrast to many other intracellular parasites, L. pneumophila is a Gram-negative bacterium that can be grown in standard microbiological culture medium. To determine the factors that enable this organism to enter, survive, and multiply within human mononuclear phagocytes, we chose bacteriophage Mu, a powerful genetic tool that transposes within the host cell genome, to generate insertion mutations and gene fusions in the Legionella genome. Certain derivatives of Mu are able to generate fusions between target genes and the lac operon from Escherichia coli. We have determined that although Mu is unable to attach to L. pneumophila or complete its life cycle within Legionella, it does transpose within the Legionella genome. Transposition was detected with a mini-Mu phage that carries the lac operon of E. coli.
 ...
PMID:Transposition of bacteriophage Mu in the Legionnaires disease bacterium. 303 23


1 2 3 4 Next >>