Prevalence of Legionella pneumophila infection in children and its role in pediatric community-acquired atypical pneumonia.
The infection status of Legionella pneumophila in children and its role in pediatric community-acquired pneumonia were investigated. Because exposure to Legionella pneumophila may be highly variable and there has been no unanimously agreed-upon cut-off values in previous seroprevalence studies, 60 serum samples collected from infants aged 12 to 18 months were examined using immunofluorescence antibody test to determine the cut-off titer which represents past Legionella pneumophila infection. An IFA titer of greater than or equal to 32 was found to be suitable to represent past L. pneumophila infection. A seroepidemiological study of the prevalence of L. pneumophila in 180 children showed the prevalences in children aged 7 to 18 years to be between 28.4 and 35%. Fifty-three paired sera were tested to determine the role of Legionella pneumophila in pediatric, community-acquired, atypical pneumonia. The frequency of confirmed disease was 0% and of presumptive cases was 5.7%. Legionella pneumophila was not a common etiologic agent of pediatric pneumonia in Taiwan.
Hsu
C M
CM
Department of Pediatrics, Kuang-Tien General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Huang
L M
LM
Kao
Y F
YF
Chin
T W
TW
Lee
P I
PI
Lin
Y J
YJ
Chang
L Y
LY
Chiu
H H
HH
Lee
C Y
CY
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007877:Legionnaires' Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology