What You Need To Know
- The New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) is seeing an increase in the number of Legionnaires’ disease cases being reported in the Northeast and Central East regions of the state.
- Healthcare providers are being asked to have a high index of suspicion for Legionella when evaluating patients for community-acquired and healthcare-associated pneumonia, particularly if SARS-CoV-2 testing is negative.
- NJDOH is requesting that lower respiratory specimens are collected and held for patients who test positive for Legionella by a urinary antigen test and who reside in, work in, or otherwise visited Union County, Middlesex County, Somerset County, or Essex County.
- All suspected or confirmed cases of legionellosis (Legionnaires’ disease and Pontiac fever) should be promptly reported to the local health department where the patient resides. If the patient residence is unknown, report to your own local health department.
Healthcare providers should consider the diagnosis of Legionnaires’ disease in patients presenting with clinical features of pneumonia, fever, and cough. NJDOH requests that lower respiratory specimens (sputum, bronchoalveolar lavage, tracheal aspirate, or lung tissue) are collected and held for patients who tested positive for Legionella by a urinary antigen test and who reside/work in or visited Union County, Middlesex County, Somerset County, or Essex County. These respiratory specimens should ideally be obtained prior to antibiotic administration, but antibiotic treatment should not be delayed to facilitate this process (and culture can be attempted even after antibiotic therapy has been initiated). Respiratory specimens should be frozen immediately after collection at ≤-20°C. Please inform your laboratory to not reject respiratory specimens based on specimen quality (e.g., due to lack of white blood cells in the sample, or contamination with other bacteria). Please notify NJDOH at
PreventLD@doh.nj.gov if a lower respiratory specimen is available from a patient with a positive Legionella urinary antigen test, or if a Legionella isolate has already been recovered. After further public health investigation, NJDOH may request that these specimens are sent to a public health laboratory for Legionella culture and/or molecular sequencing free of charge.
For More Information
Contact information is available at:
localhealth.nj.gov Kathleen Ross, Communicable Disease Service,
Kathleen.ross@doh.nj.gov or 609-826-5964 Lauren Conner, Communicable Disease Service,
Lauren.conner@doh.nj.gov or 609-826-5964 Rebecca Greeley, Communicable Disease Service,
Rebecca.greeley@doh.nj.gov or 609-826-5964
