Pneumonia caused by a previously undescribed bacterium.

A new and as yet unidentified bacterium was isolated from the lung tissue of a cancer patient with bilateral pneumonia. Clinically, the pneumonia was consistent with legionellosis; the organism cultured from the lung grew only on the charcoal-yeast extract agar routinely used for Legionella isolation. Subsequent testing, however, showed the organism to be quite distinct from the known Legionella species in its biochemical, antigenic, and growth characteristics.