Situation is monitored in Serbia: No danger from legionella, one case was registered and successfully cured

Photo: Shutterstock

Legionnaires' disease (caused by legionella) has appeared in Croatia, and according to the latest information five cases were reported, while three patients died. We looked into the situation in Serbia and whether there are any recorded cases.

Recommended

Namely, everything is constantly monitored in Serbia, there was one case during the year which was detected in time and successfully treated.

According to the Health Care Law, Legionnaires' disease must be reported. The outbreaks are usually sporadic, in clusters, less often occurring as an epidemic (multiple cases associated with common temporal and spatial exposure), according to the Batut Institute.

In addition to the one case during 2024 so far, the disease was also registered in one foreign citizen during his stay in our country. For laboratory diagnostics, detection of antigens in a urine sample during the acute phase of the disease, taking a respiratory sample for cell culture, serological tests and PCR diagnostics are all done, Telegraf.rs has been told.

In Europe, Australia and the US, about 10-15 cases per one million people are detected annually.

Of the reported cases, 75–80% are people older than 50, and 60–70% are men.

Three patients died yesterday in Croatia after getting infected with legionella bacteria and then developing Legionnaires' disease.

(Telegraf.rs)