[Legionellosis as a polyvalent disease picture].

This article reports on the course of four cases of legionellosis confirmed by a positive fluorescence titre of 1:128. The dramatic course was characterized by severe pneumonia in only a single case. Common features of all four patients were alcohol abuse, cholestatic hepatitis, progressive azotaemia and leukocytosis above 30 x 10(9)/l, or an ESR above 110 (Westergren). In view of the doubtful prognosis of the disease, the care-providing physician should bot wait for a significant increase in titres before starting treatment with tetracyclines or erythromycins.