Table 1.

Epidemiological characteristics of 447 Legionnaires' disease patients in The Netherlands*

^*From 447 patients sufficient data was available for analysis; sometimes one or two variables are missing.

^†Rest of Europe: Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, England, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Moldavia, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Yugoslavia; Americas: Netherlands Antilles, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Peru, USA, Venezuela; Asia: China, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia; Africa: Morocco and Tunis.

^‡Confirmed laboratory diagnosis: positive culture, positive urine antigen test or a fourfold rise in antibody titre against Legionella spp. in paired acute and convalescent serum samples, ⩾128 IU. Probable laboratory diagnosis: positive PCR, a high titre in one serum sample against Legionella spp., ⩾256 IU, or direct fluorescent antibody staining of the organism.