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

Serious respiratory tract infections are rare in the healthy individual and most of the nuisance morbidity that occurs results from nasopharyngeal viral infections that many people get once or twice a year. The economic impact from these upper respiratory tract infections is appreciable, however, in terms of absenteeism from school or work, but unfortunately there is little that can be done to ward them off in a practical way. Pneumonia is an infrequent lifetime experience for most non-smoking adults and when it occurs, unusual circumstances may pertain--a particularly virulent microorganism is in circulation, or perhaps one has been exposed to a newly recognized germ, such as has occurred with Legionella species in the past 8 years or so. What protects us the great majority of the time is a very effective network of respiratory tract host defenses. These include many mechanical and anatomical barrier mechanisms concentrated in nose and throat; mucociliary clearance, coughing and mucosal immunoglobulins in the conducting airways and in the air-exchange region of the alveolar structures, phagocytes, opsonins, complement, surfactant and many other factors combine to clear infectious agents. The ability to mount an inflammatory response in the alveoli may represent the maximal and ultimate expression of local host defense. In some way these host defenses are combating constantly the influx of micro-organisms, usually inhaled or aspirated into the airways, that try to gain a foothold on the mucosal surface and colonize it. But many general changes in overall health such as debility, poor nutrition, metabolic derangements, bone marrow suppression and perhaps aging promote abnormal microbial colonization and undermine the body's defenses that try to cope with the situation. It is a dynamic struggle. The departure from normal respiratory health may not be obvious immediately to the patient or to the physician and repeated episodes of infection or persisting symptoms of cough, expectoration and sinus or ear infections may develop before serious assessment of the situation is taken and appropriate diagnosis gotten underway. Obvious explanations for respiratory infections may be apparent and, nowadays, side effects from antineoplastic chemotherapy or immunosuppressive therapy for a variety of diseases that create an immunocompromised host are common. In a few subjects, especially young adults who present with a cumulative history of frequent but mild infections in childhood and youth, a subtle deficiency in host defenses may exist and have been partially masked because of attentive pediatric medical care and prompt use of broad spectrum antibiotics.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Respiratory infections may reflect deficiencies in host defense mechanisms. 384 94

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

Fourteen of 23 female members of a church group experienced an acute self-limited illness characterized by chills, fever, chest pain, cough, and nausea, consistent with the diagnosis of Pontiac fever. All 14 affected women had used a whirlpool located in the women's locker room during a racquetball party. Legionella pneumophila serogroup 6 was isolated from the women's whirlpool. Nine of 14 cases showed a seroconversion to heat-fixed antigen prepared from the L pneumophila serogroup 6 isolate. Aerosol size studies show that the whirlpool aerator produced water droplets small enough to travel deep into the tracheobronchial tree but large enough to transport L pneumophila. This outbreak demonstrated that Pontiac fever may be associated with L pneumophila serogroup 6, that whirlpools can serve as a reservoir for these organisms, and that seroconversion can occur in the absence of illness.
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PMID:An outbreak of Pontiac fever related to whirlpool use, Michigan 1982. 396 86

"New" diseases continue to crop up. One of the most spectacular of these is Legionnaires' disease, first diagnosed after an epidemic in Philadelphia in 1976. Analysis of stored serums, however, has shown the causative agent, Legionella pneumophila, to be the culprit in epidemics of pneumonia occurring as early as 1947. The disease has a spectrum of presentations ranging from a self-limited syndrome of myalgias and nonproductive cough with a 24-hour incubation period to a severe pneumonia with diarrhea and delirium and up to 30% mortality. Therapy consists of erythromycin with or without rifampin. One reviewer said, "I found Dr Francke's article . . . to be an informative treatise on a fascinating subject."
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PMID:Legionnaires' disease. Clinical and pathologic features and current management. 682 62

Retrospective study shows that a 1957 outbreak of pneumonia in Austin, Minnesota, was Legionnaires' disease. Between June 7 and August 9, 1957, 78 persons were hospitalized with acute respiratory disease of unknown cause. Most had fever, headache, cough, and pneumonitis; two died. Ages ranged from 14-83 years; half of the patients were aged 55 years or older. Eighty-seven per cent were men. There were no secondary cases. Forty-six (59%) of the 78 patients were employees at a local meat packing plant, in distinction to the area's total working population (32%). Serosurvey of 15 of the 1957 outbreak cases and 30 controls matched for age, sex, and either occupation or residence was carried out in 1979. Antibody titers were determined for Legionella pneumophila serogroups 1-4 by means of indirect immunofluorescence. Twelve (80%) of the 15 cases and 13 (43%) of the 30 controls had antibody titers of 1:64 or greater to one or more of the L. pneumophila serogroups. Significant differences in L. pneumophila antibody titers (prevalence and level) were found between cases and control groups matched for residence (serogroups 1-3) or occupation (serogroups 2 and 3). Only three of 20 Austin residents with pneumonia diagnosed between 1978 and 1980 had L. pneumophila antibody titers of 1:128 or greater (p less than 0.001), in comparison to cases. These serologic data and the 1957 clinical and epidemiologic observations support the contention that this is the earliest documented outbreak of Legionnaires' disease.
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PMID:A 1957 outbreak of Legionnaires' disease associated with a meat packing plant. 682 53

Sixty-five cases of nosocomially acquired Legionnaires' disease are reported and the world literature is reviewed. The etiologic agent, Legionnella pneumophila, has been isolated from several environmental sources at outbreak sites. Legionnaires' disease appears to be acquired by inhalation and is primarily manifested by severe, potentially fatal, pneumonia. Characteristic clinical disease consists of high fever with relative bradycardia, dry cough, chills, diarrhea, and pleuritic pain. Although no single feature is pathognomonic, the clinical presentation is usually sufficiently characteristic to suggest the diagnosis. The diagnosis of Legionnaires' disease during acute illness may be established by culture of Legionella pneumophila, or by demonstration of the bacterium using special stains. However, in most instances, the physician must make a presumptive diagnosis based on the clinical presentation in order to institute appropriate antimicrobial therapy. Retrospective confirmation of the diagnosis may be made by serologic studies in most instances. Erythromycin is, at this time, the drug of choice for the treatment of Legionnaires' disease. A prompt salutory response following institution of erythromycin therapy is typical.
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PMID:Legionnaires' disease: report of sixty-five nosocomially acquired cases of review of the literature. 699 73

Legionnaires disease, which is commonly manifested as pneumonia, was only recently recognized to be a bacterial infection. Diagnosis can be difficult because Gram's stain does not readily stain the bacterium in pulmonary secretions, the organism is not readily cultured, and legionellae is not affected by many commonly used antibiotics. In a retrospective review of all of our transplant patients, we identified 14 cases of Legionnaires' disease after 101 renal transplants. The patients characteristically had high fever, polymorphonuclear leukocytosis, dyspnea and an unproductive cough accompanied by radiographic changes of consolidating pneumonia. Legionnaires' disease can be diagnosed by direct immunofluorescent antibody staining, culture on special media or increases in serum titers of legionella antibodies in surviving patients. Since the recognition of Legionnaires' disease in 1977, we have successfully treated seven renal transplant patients using erythromycin with or without rifampin.
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PMID:Legionnaires' disease in renal transplant patients. 701 9

Legionella infections can take the clinical course of a relatively harmless respiratory infection. However, serious, atypical pneumonia is a more frequent manifestation of infection with these pathogens. As yet, six different Legionella species can be identified; Legionella pneumophila appears to be the most common. Legionnaires' pneumonia is being found with increasing regularity during summer and autumn in elderly male patients with previous illnesses. The clinical picture is characterised by viral "prodrome", high fever, a dry cough, breast pain, confusion, diarrhoea, haematuria, moderate leukocytosis with lymphopenia, low concentrations of sodium in the serum and negative results from microbiological analysis of the sputum and pleural exudate. Diagnosis is confirmed culturally, microscopically and serologically; the indirect immunofluorescence test is of particular value for this purpose. Erythromycin alone or in combination with rifampicin is the treatment of choice.
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PMID:[Clinical picture of Legionnaires' disease (author's transl)]. 710 21

Six sporadic cases of Legionnaires' disease seen over 13 months in the region of Lake Zurich (Switzerland) are reported. The disease was severe in all cases; 2 patients died while on artificial respiration; 5 patients were heavy smokers; 3 had probably acquired the infection in France. These 6 patients showed the following typical symptoms and signs: fever above 39 degrees C (6 patients), nonproductive cough (4), gastrointestinal symptoms (4), encephalopathy (4), renal insufficiency (5), hepatic involvement (4), bilateral pneumonia (4), and pO2 below 60 mm Hg (4). The disease was diagnosed serologically in all cases and by staining and culturing Legionella pneumophila from lung tissue in one case. The authors propose to treat unusual cases of pneumonia with erythromycin from the outset.
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PMID:[Legionnaires' disease in the Lake Zurich area. Report on 6 sporadic cases]. 720 63

In 1978 and 1979, eight sporadic cases of Legionella pneumonia were observed in the Berne and Ticino areas of Switzerland. In all cases the diagnosis was established serologically using indirect immunofluorescence. Seroconversion was observed in five patients. In three cases initially high antibody titers decreased progressively. The clinical picture was characterized by acute onset with high fever, frequent chills, and dry cough. Occasional concomitant symptoms included muscular pains, headache, thoracic pain, dyspnea, hemoptysis, and gastrointestinal and central nervous symptoms. Laboratory findings showed markedly increased BSR as well as slightly increased WBC with a pronounced shift to the left. In all cases, X-ray examinations demonstrated extended, mainly unilateral and often remarkedly peripheral infiltrations of the lung. On the basis of the clinical course, two groups could be distinguished: (a) non-complicated cases of pneumonia with rapid improvement within 2-3 weeks; and (b) cases with a protracted sometimes severe course with persistence of the infiltrations up to 4 months and more. All patients with a protracted course suffered from concomitant symptoms. Whereas none of the patients died of legionellosis, two patients died six months later from their underlying disease. Most patients were treated with several antibiotics. In three patients definite improvement occurred only after therapy had been changed to doxycycline. Erythromycin, currently recommended as the drug of choice, was used in none of these cases.
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PMID:[Clinical data on Legionnaires' disease. Report on 8 sporadic cases of Legionella pneumonia]. 720 64


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