Annals online access announcement

• Book ID: 104310446
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 45 KB
• Volume: 46
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1097-6760
• DOI: 10.1016/s0196-0644(05)01544-1

✦ Synopsis

That being the case, any patient with community-acquired pneumonia who is sick enough to be hospitalized should receive empirical coverage for Legionella spp. The historic drug of choice has been erythromycin, but in vitro studies suggest azithromycin and the flouroquinolones have superior efficacy against Legionella spp. There are no clinical trials with data specific to Legionnaires disease. Both azithromycin and levofloxacin are licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of Legionnaires disease. The current standards for empiric treatment of community-acquired pneumonia suggest the use of one or the other of these agents. Decreased mortality rates are observed during Legionnaires disease outbreaks in countries that use these antibiotics rather than b-lactams as first-line agents. 2 Legionnaires disease remains an important cause of community-acquired and nosocomial pneumonia. Appropriate empiric therapy may obviate the need for specific testing in most sporadic cases. However, emergency physicians should remain aware of the possibility of outbreaks and perform specific testing and reporting when indicated. Timely reporting may help control infection sources, resulting in fewer cases.