An Investigation of the Legionella Pneumophila Infection in Pneumonic Patients in Three Different Infections Hospital Wards in Tehran

Legionella pneumophila is one of the causative agent of pneumonia in human being. In recent years many reports has been come from different parts of world regarding infectivity of this organism. This disease occurs almost because of contamination of air conditioning systems. For the purpose of assessment of the legionella pneumophila in pneumonic patients, 200 specimen from sputum and tracheo-broncheal washings were collected from patients and cultured in legionella specific culture medium (C.Y.E. agar). Non of the cultures showed growth of legionella. Instead, all of cultures showed other pathogenic bacterial growth, which are likely to be causatives of pneumonia. This microorganism include pneumococci (44.5%), Escherichia coli (15%), Klebsiella pneumonia (10%), mycoplasma pneumonia (9.5%), Staphylococcus aureus (9%), and pseudomonas aeruginosa (7%). It should be emphasize that, by taking into account of the limited number of cases and also limited period of investigation, and different regiment in treatment of patients, the results and conclusions of this study can't rule out the presence of Legionella infection in the patients studied