Abstract
Early diagnosis and treatment of Legionella pneumonia is essential. We examined the clinical features of 9 patients with Legionella pneumonia in our hospital and here we report the characteristics of community-acquired pneumonia in this rural area to facilitate diagnoses of Legionella pneumonia. All patients were male, had low CO2 levels, hyponatremia, and a high creatine phosphokinase levels. Eight patients had high aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase levels, and 7 had a low estimated glomerular filtration rate. The source of infection was determined in 6 patients: hot springs (n = 4), a refrigerated vehicle (n = 1), and well water (n = 1). Six patients were diagnosed using the urinary Legionella antigen test, and 3 were diagnosed using loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) of sputum samples. In such patients, it is therefore important to examine urine antigens and carry out polymerase chain reaction analysis (or LAMP) of sputum.
