Occurrence of the Legionella species in the respiratory samples of patients with pneumonia symptoms from Ahvaz, Iran; first detection of Legionella cherrii.

Background: This study aimed to investigate the occurrence of Legionella species in the respiratory samples of patients with pneumonia symptoms from Ahvaz, Iran by culture and the real-time PCR of 23S-5S rRNA gene spacer region.

Methods And Results: A total of 123 clinical respiratory samples including 63 pleural aspirates, 57 bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), and 3 sputum were collected from 65 males and 58 females with pneumonia symptoms. All samples were cultured on the Modified Wadowsky-Yee (MWY) agar.