PEDIATRICS Vol. 64 No. 6 December 1979, pp. 951-953
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ryan, M. E.
Right arrow Articles by Fraser, D. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ryan, M. E.
Right arrow Articles by Fraser, D. W.

Legionnaires' Disease in a Child with Cancer

Michael E. Ryan DO1, Sandor Feldman MD1, Bonnie Pruitt RN1, and David W. Fraser MD2

1 St Jude Children's Research, Memphis, Tennessee
2 Center for Disease Control, Atlanta

Although Legionnaires' disease has only recently been recognized as a distinct clinical entity, serologic surveys of localized outbreaks of respiratory illnesses have indicated that its geographic distribution is wide.1-5 Most cases have occurred in clusters, but reports of sporadic cases are increasing.6 The disease appears to be most prevalent among elderly persons or adults undergoing immunosuppressive therapy; it has seldom been documented in children.1,7,8 We report a previously undetected case of Legionnaires' disease in a child with acute lymphocytic leukemia in remission.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

To determine whether Legionnaires' disease had occurred in a childhood cancer population with pneumonia, we reviewed the records of patients between 1 and 18 years of age for whom percutaneous transthoracic lung aspirates had been obtained between April 1970 and December 1977.