Treatment of Legionnaire's disease
- Erythromycin is the treatment of choice
- If this cannot be tolerated, azithromycin, clarithromycin, levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin and doxycycline can all be used. (1) In some cases, tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, and other fluoroquinolone and macrolide drugs may be considered. (2)
- Any course of treatment should be for 10-21 days and is usually intravenous, at least at first. (3)
- In critically ill patients macrolides and fluoroquinolones should be used as first-line therapy.
- Severe infections may require the addition of rifampicin
- Support must be given in the event of any system failure - ventilation in respiratory failure, dialysis in renal failure
References:
- File TM Jr, Garau J, Blasi F, et al. Guidelines for empiric antimicrobial prescribing in community-acquired pneumonia. Chest. 2004 May;125(5):1888-901.
- Mills GD. et al. Effectiveness of beta lactam antibiotics compared with antibiotics active against atypical pathogens in non-severe community acquired pneumonia: meta-analysis. BMJ. 2005 Feb
- Amsden GW. Treatment of Legionnaires' disease. Drugs. 2005;65(5):605-14.
Create an account to add page annotations
Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.