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Legionellosis

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Laboratory Diagnosis of Infectious Diseases

Abstract

Legionellosis (Legionella pneumonia, Legionnaires disease) is an infectious disease of humans caused by the gram-negative bacterium Legionella. Although two distinct syndromes have been described, Legionella species have been isolated only from patients with Legionella pneumonia (McDade et al., 1977). A flulike illness, Pontiac fever, was attributed to infection with L. pneumophila (Glick et al., 1978) or L. feeleii (Herwaldt et al., 1984); however, supportive evidence was based solely on serologic tests with cross-reactive antigens and on demonstration of the organisms in the environment and therefore remains unconfirmed.

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Authors
  1. Hazel W. Wilkinson
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control, 30333, Atlanta, GA, USA

    A. Balows

  2. Hygienic Laboratory, Oakdale Hall, University of Iowa, 52242, Iowa City, IA, USA

    W. J. Hausler Jr.

  3. Tokyo Metropolitan Research Laboratory of Public Health, Hyakunin-cho, Shinjuku-ku, 160, Tokyo, Japan

    M. Ohashi

  4. Istituto di Microbilogia dell ’Universitá, Spedali Civili, Brescia, Italy

    A. Turano

  5. Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory, California Department of Health Services, and California Public Foundation, 94704, Berkeley, CA, USA

    E. H. Lennete (Emeritus Director) (Emeritus Director)

  6. Institut Virion, CH-8803, Ruschlikon/Zurich, Switzerland

    E. H. Lennete (Emeritus Director) (Emeritus Director)

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© 1988 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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Wilkinson, H.W. (1988). Legionellosis. In: Balows, A., Hausler, W.J., Ohashi, M., Turano, A., Lennete, E.H. (eds) Laboratory Diagnosis of Infectious Diseases. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3898-0_33

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3898-0_33

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