Surveillance report: Legionnaires’ disease in Europe 2009

This the first detailed annual Legionnaires’ disease surveillance report published by ECDC. It is based on Legionnaires’ disease surveillance data collected from 25 EU Member States, plus Iceland and Norway, for 2009. Altogether, 5 518 confirmed and probable cases of Legionnaires’ disease were reported, resulting in a notification rate of 11.2 cases per million population. The slightly decreasing trend observed since 2006 was maintained. National notification rates ranged from close to zero in Poland, Romania and Slovakia to 32 per million in Slovenia, with France, Italy and Spain accounting for 66% of reported cases. Seventy-seven percent of all cases were 50 years or older. In both genders, the notification rate increased with age. Overall, males were almost three times more frequently notified with Legionnaires’ disease than were females.