Immunosuppressed gardener pricked by roses grows Legionella longbeachae

Abstract

A 78-year-old gardener presented to our hospital with a fever and a painful swollen right hand. She had started to feel pain in both her ring and little finger 4 days earlier, which spread to her wrist. She also said she had been feverish but did not report having rigors. Notably, she said she frequently handled manure and had puncture wounds from repeatedly pricking herself on the thorns on her rosebushes. She had a history of temporal arteritis and was being treated with prednisolone 40 mg daily.