Legionella longbeachae, found in soil and compost-derived products, is a globally underdiagnosed cause of Legionnaires' disease. We conducted a case-control study of L. longbeachae Legionnaires' disease in Canterbury, New Zealand. Case-patients were persons hospitalized with L. longbeachae pneumonia, and controls were persons randomly sampled from the electoral roll for the area served by the participating hospital. Among 31 cases and 172 controls, risk factors for Legionnaires' disease were chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, history of smoking >10 years, and exposure to compost or potting mix. Gardening behaviors associated with L. longbeachae disease included having unwashed hands near the face after exposure to or tipping and troweling compost or potting mix. Mask or glove use was not protective among persons exposed to compost-derived products. Precautions against inhaling compost and attention to hand hygiene might effectively prevent L. longbeachae disease. Long-term smokers and those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease should be particularly careful.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 32. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 05 June 2026.
All research outputs
#1,538,253
of 33,738,238 outputs
Outputs from Emerging Infectious Diseases
#1,747
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Outputs of similar age
#22,971
of 357,617 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Emerging Infectious Diseases
#20
of 122 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 33,738,238 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 95th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 10,980 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 46.7. This one has done well, scoring higher than 84% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 357,617 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 93% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 122 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 83% of its contemporaries.
