Travel associated legionellosis among European tourists in Spain

Abstract

Travel associated Legionnaires' disease has caused concern among European countries since the second half of the 1980s because of the morbidity among citizens of the European Union and because of the threat posed to the economies of the Mediterranean countries by the occurrence of the disease among tourists. As a result, the European Working Group for Legionella Infections (EWGLI ) (1) was set up in 1986 coordinated by the National Bacteriology Laboratory in Stockholm until 1993 when this role was transferred to the Public Health Laboratory Service Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre in London. Case reports are sent from patients' countries of residence to countries they have visited.

EWGLI has developed a surveillance scheme based on a computer software program, the European Legionellosis Surveillance Scheme (ELSS). Monthly updates are sent to all collaborators of all available data from throughout Europe since 1987 (2). The aim of this study was to analyse data covering cases of legionellosis associated with travel to Spain, including the Balearic and Canary islands.