Legionnaires’ disease - Annual Epidemiological Report for 2020

Surveillance report

10 May 2022

Publication series: Annual Epidemiological Report on Communicable Diseases in Europe

Time period covered: This report is based on data for 2020 retrieved from The European Surveillance System (TESSy) on 25 October 2021.

Cite:

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 of 1.9 cases per 100 000 population for the EU/EEA in 2020.
A small decrease in the annual notification rate was observed, down from the 2.2 cases per 100 000 population reported in 2019.
Notification rates remained heterogenous across the EU/EEA, varying from fewer than 0.5 cases per 100 000 population to 5.7 cases per 100 000 population, with the highest rate reported by Slovenia.
Four countries (France, Germany, Italy and Spain) accounted for 72% of all notified cases.
Males aged 65 years and older were most affected (7.1 cases per 100 000 population).
The number of reported cases to the travel-associated surveillance scheme decreased by 67% in 2020 compared with 2019.
Only 10% of cases were culture confirmed (10%), likely leading to underestimation of disease caused by Legionella species other than Legionella pneumophila.