Detection of Legionella Pneumophila in Urine and Serum Specimens of Neutropenic Febrile Patients with Haematological Malignancies

Legionella pneumophila (L. pneumophila) is a gram-negative bacterium which causes ýLegionnaires’ disease as well as Pontiac fever. The Legionella infections in patients suffering from ýneutropenia- as a common complication of cancer chemotherapy- can distribute rapidly. We ýaimed to detect of L. pneumophila in haematological malignancy suffering patients with ýneutropenic fever by targeting the (macrophage infectivity potentiator) mip gene.
Subjects and Serum and ýurine specimens were obtained from 80 patients and presence of mip gene of L. pneumophila in ýspecimens was investigated by PCR.
The L. pneumophila infection was detected in 21 (26.2%) and 38 ýý(47.5%) of urine and serum specimens, respectively.
Our findings indicated that the relative high ýprevalence of L. pneumophila in the studied patients group which show the necessity of ýconsidering this microorganism in future studies from detection and treatment point of view in ýcancer patients.