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. 2017 Jul 6;22(27):30566.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2017.22.27.30566.

Legionnaires' disease in Europe, 2011 to 2015

Julien Beauté  1   2 ; The European Legionnaires' Disease Surveillance Network  3
Collaborators, Affiliations

Legionnaires' disease in Europe, 2011 to 2015

Julien Beauté et al. Euro Surveill. .

Erratum in

  • Authors' correction for Euro Surveill. 2017;22(27).
    Eurosurveillance editorial team. Eurosurveillance editorial team. Euro Surveill. 2017 Nov;22(46):171116-1. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2017.22.46.171116-1. Euro Surveill. 2017. PMID: 29162206 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

Under the coordination of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the European Legionnaires' disease Surveillance Network (ELDSNet) conducts surveillance of Legionnaires' disease (LD) in Europe. Between 2011 and 2015, 29 countries reported 30,532 LD cases to ECDC (28,188 (92.3%) confirmed and 2,344 (7.7%) probable). Four countries (France, Germany, Italy and Spain) accounted for 70.3% of all reported cases, although their combined populations represented only 49.9% of the study population. The age-standardised rate of all cases increased from 0.97 cases/100,000 population in 2011 to 1.30 cases/100,000 population in 2015, corresponding to an annual average increase of 0.09 cases/100,000 population (95%CI 0.02-0.14; p = 0.02). Demographics and infection setting remained unchanged with ca 70% of cases being community-acquired and 80% occurring in people aged 50 years and older. Clinical outcome was known for 23,164 cases, of whom 2,161 (9.3%) died. The overall case fatality ratio decreased steadily from 10.5% in 2011 to 8.1% in 2015, probably reflecting improved reporting completeness. Five countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, and Norway) had increasing age-standardised LD notification rates over the 2011-15 period, but there was no increase in notification rates in countries where the 2011 rate was below 0.5/100,000 population.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Europe; Legionnaires' disease; surveillance.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Age-standardised rate of Legionnaires’ disease per 100,000 population, European Union/European Economic Area, 2011–2015
Figure 2
Figure 2
Age-standardised rate of Legionnaires’ disease per 100,000 population by country, European Union/European Economic Area, 2011–2015
Figure 3
Figure 3
Notification rates of Legionnaires’ disease per 100,000 population by sex and age group and male-to-female rate ratio by age group, European Union/European Economic Area, 2011–2015
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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