Open Syndrome Probable Legionnaires' Disease
Table of Contents
Authors: Public Health England
Location: England
Purpose #
Case definition for a probable case of Legionnaires’ disease in the context of an outbreak
The definition #
A case with clinical or radiological diagnosis of pneumonia but no microbiological evidence for confirmation of Legionella infection (above) is considered a probable case where the location and onset date(s) meet the outbreak-specific case definition for the exposure category
Machine-readable definition #
The definition is available in JSON format following the Open Syndrome v1.0 specification:
{
"category": "suspected",
"definition_type": "case_definition",
"description": "Case definition for a probable case of Legionnaires' disease in the context of an outbreak",
"human_readable_definition": "A case with clinical or radiological diagnosis of pneumonia but no\nmicrobiological evidence for confirmation of Legionella infection (above) is\nconsidered a probable case where the location and onset date(s) meet the\noutbreak-specific case definition for the exposure category",
"inclusion_criteria": [
{
"logical_operator": "AND",
"name": "Suspected case of pneumonia and exposure to an outbreak",
"type": "criterion",
"values": [
{
"description": "Clinical or radiological diagnosis of pneumonia",
"name": "Pneumonia",
"type": "diagnosis"
},
{
"description": "Location and onset date(s) meet the outbreak-specific case definition for the exposure category: community-acquired, healthcare-associated and travel-associated.",
"name": "Outbreak exposure",
"type": "epidemiological_history"
}
]
}
],
"keywords": [
"Legionnaires' disease"
],
"language": "English",
"location": "England",
"open_syndrome_version": "1.0.0",
"organization": "Public Health England",
"published_at": "2025-02-08T13:23:40Z",
"published_by": [
"Open Syndrome Initiative"
],
"published_in": "https://opensyndrome.org",
"references": [
{
"url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/legionnaires-disease-clinical-case-definitions/legionnaires-disease-case-definitions"
}
],
"scope": "specific",
"status": "draft",
"target_public_health_threats": [
"Legionnaires' disease"
],
"title": "Open Syndrome Probable Legionnaires' Disease",
"version": "1.0.0"
}
Using the Definition #
Healthcare organizations can implement this definition through:
- Direct integration with surveillance systems
- API endpoints for real-time validation
- Manual case verification processes
Next Steps #
We encourage:
- Clinical feedback on the definition criteria
- Technical feedback on the implementation format
- Suggestions for additional symptoms or signs
- Reports of implementation experiences
Get Involved #
We welcome contributions and feedback from the community.