Legionnaires' disease: respiratory infections caused by Legionella bacteria
Davis, G.S.; Winn, W.C.
Clinics in Chest Medicine 8(3): 419-439
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0272-5231 PMID: 3311585 Document Number: 295411
This article provides a review of Legionnaire's Disease, a bacterial pneumonia caused by Legionella species, and of Pontiac Fever, the flu-like illness caused by these microorganisms. The authors draw on their personal experience with major human outbreaks of Legionnaire's Disease and with animal models of Legionella pneumonia. Emphasis is placed on the sources in nature from which legionellosis is acquired, the means of dissemination of bacteria, the epidemiology of human infections, the pathogenetic mechanisms of disease and host defense, the clinical manifestations, and the treatment.