Legionella pneumonia and HIV: Case reports and review of the literature

Uriel Sandkovsky, Gabriel Sandkovsky, Jin Suh, Barbara Smith, Victoria Sharp, Bruce Polsky

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

Although Legionnaires' disease occurs more commonly in patients with some degree of immunosuppression (diabetes, chronic lung disease, end stage renal disease, cancer, etc.), it has been infrequently described in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and AIDS. Some studies suggest that pneumonia caused by Legionella tends to present with more severe clinical features and complications in the HIV-infected population. The use of antibiotic prophylaxis or the association of severe pneumonia with other pathogens may account for under diagnosis of the disease. We diagnosed five cases of Legionella pneumonia in patients with HIV infection at our institution during a 1-year period. The cases seen ranged in severity, regardless of the CD4 + counts of the patients. Based on our observations, it seems impossible to discern whether HIV infection is an additional risk factor for Legionnaires' disease. We describe those five cases and review the available literature.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)473-481
Number of pages9
JournalAIDS Patient Care and STDs
Volume22
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 2008

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Infectious Diseases

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