Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009:2009:812829.
doi: 10.1155/2009/812829. Epub 2009 May 26.

Legionella antibodies in a Danish hospital staff with known occupational exposure

M Rudbeck  1 , S Viskum, K Mølbak, S A Uldum
Affiliations

Legionella antibodies in a Danish hospital staff with known occupational exposure

M Rudbeck et al. J Environ Public Health. 2009.

Abstract

Although legionnaires' disease frequently is acquired in health care institutions, little is known about the occupational risk of Legionella infection among health care workers. The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to analyse antibody levels among exposed hospital workers and to determine the correlation between antibodies to Legionella and self-reported symptoms. The study included 258 hospital employees and a reference group of 708 healthy blood donors. Hospital workers had a higher prevalence of Legionella antibody titres (>/=1 : 128) than blood donors (odds ratio 3.4; 95% CI 2.4-4.8). Antibody levels were not higher among staff members at risk of frequent aerosol exposure than among less exposed employees. There was no consistent association between a history of influenza-like symptom complex and the presence of antibodies. The results indicate that hospital workers have a higher risk of Legionella infections than the general population. However, since no excess morbidity was associated with seropositivity, most Legionella infections may be asymptomatic.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Saravolatz L, Arking L, Wentworth B, Quinn E. Prevalence of antibody to the Legionnaires' disease bacterium in hospital employees. Annals of Internal Medicine. 1979;90(4):601–603. - PubMed
    1. Szymanska J. Risk of exposure to Legionella in dental practice. Annals of Agriculture and Environmental Medicine. 2004;11(1):9–12. - PubMed
    1. Boshuizen HC, Neppelenbroek SE, van Vliet H, et al. Subclinical Legionella infection in workers near the source of a large outbreak of legionnaires disease. The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2001;184(4):515–518. - PubMed
    1. Yu VL. Resolving the controversy on environmental cultures for Legionella: a modest proposal. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. 1998;19(12):893–897. - PubMed
    1. Fiore AE, Butler JC, Emori TG, Gaynes RP. A survey of methods used to detect nosocomial legionellosis among participants in the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. 1999;20(6):412–416. - PubMed

MeSH terms