Eickhoff T C
Ann Intern Med. 1979 Apr;90(4):499-502. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-90-4-499.
Ten recorded epidemics of Legionnaires' disease are reviewed to gain a working perspective on the epidemiology of the disease. Salient features have included a summer-fall seasonality, a male predominance that may largely reflect increased exposure risk among men, and a striking absence of person-to-person spread. That the disease is spread primarily via the airborne route is well established; air-treatment and air-conditioning equipment has been implicated as the amplification and delivery system in four epidemics. Soils and excavation sites have been suggested as sources of the organism in at least one recorded epidemic. Evidence to date suggests that the Legionnaires' disease bacterium may be widespread in nature. More complete epidemiologic understanding must await development of improved microbiologic and immunologic tests.
回顾了十起已记录的军团病疫情，以对该疾病的流行病学形成一个可行的认识。显著特征包括夏秋季节性、男性占主导地位（这可能在很大程度上反映了男性接触风险增加）以及明显不存在人传人现象。该疾病主要通过空气传播这一点已得到充分证实；在四起疫情中，空气处理和空调设备被认为是病原体的扩增和传播系统。在至少一起已记录的疫情中，土壤和挖掘现场被认为是病原体的来源。迄今为止的证据表明，军团病杆菌可能在自然界广泛存在。更全面的流行病学认识必须等待改进的微生物学和免疫学检测方法的发展。
