Legionellosis risk factors: Difference between revisions
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==Risk Factors== | ==Risk Factors== | ||
Revision as of 14:03, 12 December 2012
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Risk Factors
Risk factors for Legionellosis are:
Common Risk Factors
- Old age (usually 65 years of age or older)
- Smokers
- Chronic lung disease (like emphysema)
- Alcoholism
- Diabetes
- Renal failure
Less Common Risk Factors
Weaker immune system from the following also increases the risk of Legionella infection:
- Cancer
- Hepatic failure
- Chemotherapy
- Exposure to whirlpool spas.
- Recent repairs or maintenance work on domestic plumbing.
- Transplantation
- Long-term use of a breathing machine (ventilator)
The following patients should be tested for Legionnaires' disease:
- Hospitalized patients with enigmatic pneumonia
- Patients with enigmatic pneumonia sufficiently severe to require care in the ICU
- Compromised host with pneumonia
- Patients with pneumonia in the setting of a legionellosis outbreak
- Patients who fail to respond to treatment to a ß-lactam or cephalosporin
- Patients with a travel history [patients that have traveled away from their home within two weeks before the onset of illness.]
- Patients suspected of nosocomial pneumonia with unknown etiology