Legionellosis and biologic therapies.

[legionellosis]

Biologic therapies are widely used in inflammatory diseases , and they are associated to an increased infection risk , especially to granulomatous and intracellular infections such as Legionella .A review of the literature revealed 105 cases of Legionella pneumonia in patients taking biologic therapies . Sixty -four patients (65 .3 %) were treated with infliximab , 23 (23 .5 %) with adalimumab , 5 (5 %) with etanercept and 3 (3 %) with rituximab . Seventy -one per cent of the patients were treated for rheumatologic diseases and 16 % for inflammatory bowel diseases . The majority of the patients received one or more concomitant immunosuppressive drugs , especially steroids (43 %). Overall mortality was 19 %. Legionella pneumonia might complicate therapy with biologic therapies , especially in patients being treated with infliximab or adalimumab given concomitantly with other immunosuppressive medications during their first 6 months of treatment .Physicians should be aware of this potentially severe association . Early recognition and treatment would likely result in reduced morbidity and mortality .

Diseases
Validation

Diseases presenting "pneumonia" symptom

22q11.2 deletion syndrome

acute rheumatic fever

allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis

alpha-thalassemia

classical phenylketonuria

cohen syndrome

congenital diaphragmatic hernia

heparin-induced thrombocytopenia

hydrocephalus with stenosis of the aqueduct of sylvius

junctional epidermolysis bullosa

lamellar ichthyosis

legionellosis

liposarcoma

lymphangioleiomyomatosis

monosomy 21

oculocutaneous albinism

omenn syndrome

pleomorphic liposarcoma

primary effusion lymphoma

proteus syndrome

pyomyositis

scrub typhus

severe combined immunodeficiency

triple a syndrome

waldenstrÃ¶m macroglobulinemia

wiskott-aldrich syndrome

x-linked adrenoleukodystrophy

zellweger syndrome

This symptom has already been validated