Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (15)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Dedicoat, M.
Right arrow Articles by Venkatesan, P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Dedicoat, M.
Right arrow Articles by Venkatesan, P.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (1999) 43, 747-752
© 1999 The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy

Leading article

The treatment of Legionnaires' disease

Martin Dedicoata and Pradhib Venkatesanb,*

a Department of Clinical Infection, City General Hospital, North Staffordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Stoke on Trent ST4 7LN; b Department of Infection and Tropical Medicine, Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham B9 5SS, UK

Introduction

The Legionellaceae family contains over 40 recognized species, but less than half of these cause disease in humans. The most frequently pathogenic species is Legionella pneumophila, of which there are 14 serogroups. L. pneumophilaaccounts for 90% (and serogroups 1- 6 for 85%) of all infections. Other important species include Legionella micdadei, Legionella bozemanii, Legionella dumoffii and Legionella longbeachae.The principal clinical illness is pneumonia (Legionnaires' disease), although L. pneumophila has also been implicated in cases of endocarditis and myocarditis, and in haemodialysis infections.

Treatment recommendations for Legionnaires' disease are largely based on clinical experience of the first recognized outbreak in Philadelphia in 1976; in a retrospective review, patients treated with erythromycin or tetracycline had a 50% lower mortality rate compared with patients treated with ß-lactams.1 Subsequently, erythromycin became the treatment ofchoice. More recently, a number of new antimicrobial agents have appeared, but formally assessing their comparative efficacy in treatment . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Assessment of antimicrobials

Macrolides

Quinolones

Other antimicrobials

Combination therapy

Choice of therapy

Notes

References


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Antimicrob. Agents Chemother.Home page
M. T. García, C. Pelaz, M. J. Giménez, and L. Aguilar
In Vitro Activities of Gemifloxacin versus Five Quinolones and Two Macrolides against 271 Spanish Isolates of Legionella pneumophila: Influence of Charcoal on Susceptibility Test Results
Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., August 1, 2000; 44(8): 2176 - 2178.
[Abstract] [Full Text]