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 ‎legionnaires’ disease as well pontiac fever. the legionella infections in patients suffering from ‎neutropenia- as a common complication of cancer chemotherapy- can distribute rapidly. we ‎aimed to detection of l. pneumophila in haematological malignancy suffering patients with ‎nuetropenic fever by targeting the (macrophage infectivity potentiator) mip gene. serum and ‎urine specimens were obtained from 80 patients and presence of mip gene of l. pneumophila in ‎specimens was investigated by pcr. l. pneumophila infection was detected in 21(26.2%) and 38 ‎‎(47.5%) of urine and serum specimens, respectively. our findings indicated the relative high ‎prevalence of l. pneumophila in the studied patients group which shows the necessity of ‎considering this microorganism in future studies regarding to detect and treatment of infection in ‎cancer patients.‎