[Legionellosis in Israel--a view of the situation].

Infection with Legionella remains an important cause of disease and death. We analyzed our laboratory data from 1993 through 1997, augmented by our 20 years of experience. The incidence of Legionella as a cause of pneumonia varied in our study from 5%-9%, with a slight increase during the winter.

A 15-year study of the role of Aeromonas spp. in gastroenteritis in hospitalised children.

During a 15-year period, 146 strains of Aeromonas spp. were isolated from 32810 faecal specimens from 13,820 hospitalised patients up to 13 years of age. These isolates constituted 4% of all the pathogenic bacterial strains cultured.

Western blot analysis of immune response to Legionella bozemanii antigens.

The immune response to individual major antigens of Legionella bozemanii was studied in 67 sera from 26 inpatients with febrile disease using immunoblotting techniques. All the patients had fever of unknown origin and showed strong serological reactions to L bozemanii that cross-reacted with Rickettsia typhi, as determined by a standard indirect microimmunofluorescence assay. Sera analysed by western blotting reacted with 12-14 molecular components of L bozemanii with apparent molecular weights ranging from 14,000 to 94,000 daltons.

Legionella longbeachae pneumonia in a patient splenectomized for hairy-cell leukemia.

A 63-year-old man was admitted to the respiratory intensive care unit for pneumonia. Fifteen years earlier, hairy cell leukemia had been diagnosed and the patient underwent splenectomy. A clinical suspicion of legionellosis, later confirmed by both serology and isolation of the microorganism, prompted initiation of high dose erythromycin intravenously.

Predisposition of the asthmatic child to legionellosis?

The prevalence of seropositivity to Legionella spp. was studied in 184 children with bronchial asthma and in 80 control children, age- and sex-matched, without respiratory tract infections. The sera were examined by indirect immunofluorescence with antigens of six Legionella spp.