Validation of a Prediction Rule for Legionella Pneumonia in Emergency Department Patients

Rebekka Bolliger; Olivia Neeser; Meret Merker; Tanja Vukajlovic; Laetitia Felder; Rico Fiumefreddo; Sebastian Haubitz; Daniel Koch; Angelika Hammerer-Lercher; Cornelia Ottiger; Christoph A Fux; Beat Mueller; Philipp Schuetz

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofz268

Validation of a Prediction Rule for Legionella Pneumonia in Emergency Department Patients

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2019 Jun 4;6(7):ofz268. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofz268. eCollection 2019 Jul.

Authors

Rebekka Bolliger^{1

2}, Olivia Neeser^{1

2}, Meret Merker^{1

2}, Tanja Vukajlovic², Laetitia Felder², Rico Fiumefreddo¹, Sebastian Haubitz^{1

3}, Daniel Koch¹, Angelika Hammerer-Lercher⁴, Cornelia Ottiger⁴, Christoph A Fux^{1

3}, Beat Mueller^{1

2}, Philipp Schuetz^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of General Internal and Emergency Medicine, University Department of Medicine, Kantonsspital Aarau, Aarau, Switzerland.
² Faculty of Medicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
³ Department of Infectious Diseases, University Department of Medicine, Kantonsspital Aarau, Aarau, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Laboratory Medicine, Kantonsspital Aarau, Aarau, Switzerland.

Abstract

We validated a clinical prediction rule for Legionella based on clinical parameters (dry cough, fever) and laboratory findings (C-reactive protein, lactate dehydrogenase, sodium, platelet counts) in 713 consecutive patients with community-acquired pneumonia. The Legionella Score performed well in estimating the likelihood for Legionella infection and thus may help to direct diagnostic and therapeutic decisions.

Keywords: Legionella; Legionella Score; community-acquired pneumonia.