Digestive disorders in legionnaires' disease: accompaniment signs or infectious visceral localisation?

Digestive disorders in Legionella pneumophila pneumonia such as nausea, vom iting, diarrhoea, are common; they are clinical arguments to suspect this b acteria to be,responsible for this pneumonia. In this case-report, a patien t with pneumonia due to Legionella pneumophila serogroup I presented in the follow-rep with signs of enteritis with ascites. We looked ahead in litera ture who made rls discover the multiple organ involvement that may happen i n Legionnaires' disease. Diagnostic procedures consist in simple tests as u ltrasonography, abdominal computerised tomography, that show inflammatory d isease signs and sometimes ascites. Exeptionally Legionella pneumophila has been demonstrated with direct immunofluorescent microscopic study, in infl ammatory colitis pieces with haemorrhagic necrosis in different stage proce sses. Pathogenesis could be explained by the systemic spread of the organis m and formation at distance of necrotising enteritis focus, It is initiated by necrotising factors of bacterial origin and hypersensitivity reactions (type I and II).