Key Points

An increase in the number of reported cases of Legionnaires’ disease among residents of the region (n=162) in 2018, with a peak in June (24% of the total number of cases reported for the year), similar to what was observed in France. Two suspected clusters were investigated; however, for one, no cluster was confirmed, and for the other, two cases involving travelers staying in the same accommodation were identified.

The incidence rate of reported Legionnaires’ disease cases was 2.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018, a rate similar to the incidence rate in metropolitan France (2.4 per 100,000).

Only three departments did not experience an increase in the number of reported cases of Legionnaires' disease: Creuse, Landes, and Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

There was no change in the characteristics of Legionnaires' disease cases, which are similar to those observed in mainland France:

• the reporting rate is higher among men (4.5 per 100,000) than among women (1.1 per 100,000).

• The incidence of Legionnaires' disease increases with age for both sexes.

Increased use of culture as a complementary diagnostic method to urinary antigen testing, which would allow for comparison with a potential environmental strain, but the rate remains low (22%).

Decrease in the proportion of reported cases in the region who had been hospitalized or in a nursing home during the incubation period.