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Query: UMLS:C0023241 (Legionella)
 6,990 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Pulmonary infiltrates in the patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) may be associated with a spectrum of unusual neoplastic and infectious process. Transbronchial biopsy frequently reveals the cause of these infiltrates; however, when transbronchial biopsy is nondiagnostic or contraindicated, or if the patient fails to improve after a diagnostic transbronchial biopsy, further investigation is warranted to direct appropriate therapy. Efficacy of 23 open-lung biopsies in 19 AIDS patients with pulmonary infiltrates was evaluated to define the indications for and the diagnostic yield of open-lung biopsy. Pulmonary infiltrates were recognized for a mean duration (+/- standard error) of 16 +/- 2 days before open-lung biopsy and were associated with fever and cough. These patients did not have prior transbronchial biopsy, and open-lung biopsy was diagnostic in all of these. Prior transbronchial biopsy performed in the remaining 16 patients was nondiagnostic in 10. Open-lung biopsy was diagnostic in 70% of these patients (Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, 2 patients; Kaposi's sarcoma, 3 patients; Kaposi's sarcoma and Legionella pneumophila, 1 patient; cytomegalovirus, 1 patient). The other 6 patients having a previous diagnostic transbronchial biopsy failed to improve with therapy, and open-lung biopsy resulted in a therapeutic change in 67% of these patients. Two deaths were attributable to open-lung biopsy in patients with postoperative thrombocytopenic hemorrhage. Open-lung biopsy should be performed in AIDS patients when transbronchial biopsy is nondiagnostic or contraindicated, or in patients who fail to improve with appropriate therapy after diagnostic transbronchial biopsy, especially in patients with Kaposi's sarcoma.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Indications for and diagnostic efficacy of open-lung biopsy in the patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). 395 3

From October 1983 to February 1984, five episodes of nosocomial pneumonia caused by Legionella bozemanii occurred in immunosuppressed patients at a 300-bed community hospital. Pulmonary infiltrates were predominantly patchy and present in multiple lobes and bilaterally; cavitation occurred in one patient. Patients responded promptly and completely to treatment with erythromycin and rifampin. Epidemiologic studies showed that all patients had been continuously or recently hospitalized at the same institution. Legionella bozemanii was cultured from four of the five infected patients, from tapwater in patient care areas, from the hospital's hotwater holding tank, and from soil in an area of excavation and new construction on hospital property. Chlorination and heat sterilization of the tank eliminated L. bozemanii from the water and no further cases were seen. This outbreak reaffirms that excavation and construction are risk factors for the outbreak of nosocomial legionella pneumonia and is the first description of nosocomial infection due to L. bozemanii.
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PMID:Waterborne Legionella bozemanii and nosocomial pneumonia in immunosuppressed patients. 401 2

We reviewed chest roentgenograms from 17 persons with confirmed Legionnaires' disease. None of the cases was associated with known outbreaks. Pulmonary infiltrates, usually extensive, were present in all cases. The predominant radiological pattern of both on initial roentgenograms and those from the peak of illness was distal air space disease, usually in a segmental or lobar distribution. The lower lobes were involved most frequently. Pleural effusion and volume loss were infrequent. Radiological findings progressed rapidly and often cleared rapidly, although slow clearing was also seen in some cases. Legionnaires' disease should be included in the radiological differential diagnosis of segmental or lobar pneumonia.
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PMID:The chest roentgenogram in sporadic cases of Legionnaires' disease. 745 87

Legionnaire's disease (LD) is a non-zoonotic atypical community acquired pneumonia (CAP) with several characteristic extra-pulmonary findings. Pending diagnostic test results, selected characteristic findings when considered together are the basis of clinical syndromic diagnosis and the basis of empiric antimicrobial therapy. Of the extra-pulmonary manifestation of LD, neurologic findings are among the most common, e.g., headache, mental confusion. In LD, encephalitis is rare as are myoclonus and seizures. This is a most interesting case of LD that presented with encephalitis, myoclonus and seizures. Pulmonary infiltrates developed early after admission. LD was suspected on the basis of otherwise unexplained characteristic findings, e.g., hypophosphatemia, elevated serum transaminases, microscopic hematuria, elevated ferritin, and empiric doxycycline therapy was started. The diagnosis of LD was further supported by prominent and persistent myoclonus and seizures, rare but characteristic neurologic findings in LD. On week 12 of hospitalization, he finally seroconverted with negative urinary antigen tests indicating his LD was due to a non-L. pneumophilia (serotype 01) strain. On doxycycline, he made a slow but complete recovery. We believe this is the first reported case of LD presenting with encephalitis, myoclonus, and seizures successfully treated with doxycycline.
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PMID:Legionnaire's disease presenting with encephalitis, myoclonus, and seizures: Successful treatment with doxycycline. 3138 57