TY - JOUR
T1 - Legionella pneumonia cases over a five-year period
T2 - A descriptive, retrospective study of outcomes in a uk district hospital
AU - Wingfield, Tom
AU - Rowell, Sam
AU - Peel, Alex
AU - Puli, Deeksha
AU - Guleri, Achyut
AU - Sharma, Rashmi
PY - 2013/4/1
Y1 - 2013/4/1
N2 - As the recent outbreaks in Edinburgh and Camarthen, UK, have shown, Legionella pneumonia (LP) remains a significant public health problem, which is not only confined to those who have travelled abroad. In both outbreaks and sporadic cases, diagnosis can go unrecognised. We reviewed the demographics, comorbidities, diagnosis, treatment and clinical outcome of LP cases over five years in a district general hospital in northwest England. Over half of LP cases were UK acquired and 'classic' clinical features were common. Clinical criteria for diagnosing LP were confirmed, but few sputum samples were sent to reference laboratories, limiting further essential epidemiological mapping of UK cases. Following current UK community-acquired pneumonia guidance would have missed nearly one quarter of LP cases in our series, potentially leading to further morbidity and mortality.
AB - As the recent outbreaks in Edinburgh and Camarthen, UK, have shown, Legionella pneumonia (LP) remains a significant public health problem, which is not only confined to those who have travelled abroad. In both outbreaks and sporadic cases, diagnosis can go unrecognised. We reviewed the demographics, comorbidities, diagnosis, treatment and clinical outcome of LP cases over five years in a district general hospital in northwest England. Over half of LP cases were UK acquired and 'classic' clinical features were common. Clinical criteria for diagnosing LP were confirmed, but few sputum samples were sent to reference laboratories, limiting further essential epidemiological mapping of UK cases. Following current UK community-acquired pneumonia guidance would have missed nearly one quarter of LP cases in our series, potentially leading to further morbidity and mortality.
KW - Atypical
KW - Curb-65
KW - Descriptive
KW - Legionella
KW - Outcome
KW - Pneumonia
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84884507096&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.7861/clinmedicine.13-2-152
DO - 10.7861/clinmedicine.13-2-152
M3 - Article
C2 - 23681863
AN - SCOPUS:84884507096
SN - 1470-2118
VL - 13
SP - 152
EP - 159
JO - Clinical Medicine, Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London
JF - Clinical Medicine, Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London
IS - 2
ER -
