A Case of Legionellosis Detected with Molecular Syndromic Panel and Review of the Literature

Legionella pneumophila is an obligate aerobic intracellular bacterium. It stains poorly with Gram staining and appears as a thin, pleomorphic Gram-negative bacillus. The organism grows poorly on routine culture media. It is distributed worldwide and causes both epidemic and sporadic infections. Transmission usually occurs through inhalation of aerosolized water droplets containing the bacteria.Legionella pneumonia is more frequently observed in elderly and immunosuppressed patients and may present as community-acquired or hospital-acquired pneumonia with a severe clinical course. In this report, we present a case of legionellosis diagnosed using a molecular syndromic panel after the lack of response to β-lactam therapy and the presence of extrapulmonary findings raised suspicion of atypical pneumonia. A brief review of the recent literature was also conducted.