[Legionella pneumonia--important differential diagnosis in pneumonia after travelling abroad].
BACKGROUND
Legionella pneumophila is a rare cause of pneumonia in Norway. From 1992 to 1999, only 27 cases were reported to the Norwegian Surveillance System for Communicable Diseases.


METHODS
Five cases diagnosed at the Akershus Central Hospital over the last three years are presented.


RESULTS
All patients acquired their infection while travelling abroad, mainly in the Mediterranean area, and all fell ill within fourteen days of returning home. The course was serious with marked hypoxaemia in three of the patients, and one patient died. Confusion and altered mental state were prominent features of the clinical presentation.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients returning from visits abroad and presenting with a pneumonia within to weeks after arriving in Norway, should be investigated for Legionella as a causative agent unless there is a prompt response to empiric penicillin therapy.
Berdal
J E
JE
Medisinsk avdeling Sentralsykehuset i Akershus, Nordbyhagen.
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016952:Legionella pneumophila / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007877:Legionnaires' Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D011859:Radiography; D014195:Travel
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents