title: [Community-acquired Legionella pneumonia : data from the CAPNETZ study].
abstract: Legionella are present in the environment as well as in biofilms of water installation systems. Most Legionella live in amoebae. More than 51 different species of Legionella have been identified; however, most pneumonias are caused by Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1. Legionnaire's disease has an incidence of about 4% in Germany. Most cases of Legionnaire's disease are sporadic. Microbiological identification of Legionella can be achieved by cultivation of Legionella spp. on specific media, performing of Legionella-specific PCR from respiratory samples, or Legionella urinary antigen testing. Patients with severe underlying diseases, patients receiving immunosuppression, and patients who are heavy smokers have a predisposition to Legionnaire's disease. Men are significantly more often affected. Whereas outpatients show a mild clinical course, mortality for hospitalized patients is 11.2%. It can be assumed that only a minority of cases of Legionnaire's disease is recognized and reported in Germany.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Hygiene, Universität Ulm, CAPNETZ Study Group, Deutschland. heike.von-baum@uniklinik-ulm.de
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: von Baum
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lück
mesh_terms: D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D016952:Legionella pneumophila / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007877:Legionnaires' Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012737:Sex Factors