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Abstract
Original Article
An Outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease Associated with a Japanese Spa
Toshihide Nakadate1) 2) Kouhei Yamauchi1) Hiroshi Inoue1)
1)Third Department of Internal Medicine, Iwate Medical University 2)Department of Critical Care and Emergency Medicine, Iwate Medical University
ABSTRACT
From June 24 to July 5, 1996, 3 patients were admitted to the same hospital with atypical pneumonia. One of the patients, a 52-year-old man, demonstrated progressive pulmonary infiltrates and severe hypoxemia, and finally required mechanical ventilation. All 3 patients had elevated antibody titers for Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1, and had visited the same spa prior to the onset of their symptoms. On September 25, 1996 the district health department inspected the spa, and isolated Legionella pneumophila serogroup1 from the facility's hot water tanks and outlets. Although it has been reported that many spas in Japan are contaminated with Legionellaceae, the outbreak we encountered suggests that Japanese spas, like whirlpool spas in Europe and North America, can be a source of Legionnaire's disease.
KEYWORDS
Legionella pneumonia Hot spring spa Outbreak Hot water tank
Received 平成9年8月28日
JJRS, 37(8): 601-607, 1999
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