Legionnaires’ disease - Annual Epidemiological Report for 2019

Surveillance report

24 May 2021

Publication series: Annual Epidemiological Report on Communicable Diseases in Europe

Time period covered: This report is based on data for 2019 retrieved from The European Surveillance System (TESSy) on 12 January 2021.

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ECDC’s annual surveillance reports provide a wealth of epidemiological data to support decision-making at the national level. They are mainly intended for public health professionals and policymakers involved in disease prevention and control programmes.

Executive summary

Legionnaires’ disease remains an uncommon and mainly sporadic respiratory infection with an overall notification rate in 2019 for the EU/EEA of 2.2 cases per 100 000 population.
There is heterogeneity in notification rates between EU/EEA countries, with the highest rate reported by Slovenia (9.4 cases per 100 000 population).
The annual notification rate increased in recent years, from 1.4 in 2015 to 2.2 cases per 100 000 population in 2019.
There was a marginal decrease of less than 1% in the number of reported cases in 2019, compared with 2018.
Four countries (France, Germany, Italy, and Spain) accounted for 71% of all notified cases in 2019.
Males aged 65 years and above were most affected (8.4 cases per 100 000 population).
Only 10% of cases were culture-confirmed (10%) probably meaning that disease caused by Legionella species other than Legionella pneumophila is under-estimated.