Antimicrobial Resistance Properties of Legionella Pneumophila Isolated from the Cases of Lower Respiratory tract Infections
Besharat Rahimi1 and Ahmad Vesal21Advanced Thoracic Research Centre, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran.
2Department of Pediatric Cardiology , Rajaie Cardiovascular Medical and Research Center, Iran University of Medical sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Corresponding Author E-mail: Dr.ahmad.vesal@gmail.com
Abstract: Legonella pneumophila is one of the main pathogenic agents responsible for pneumonia and respiratory tract infections. It has high levels of resistance against commonly used antibiotics. The present investigation was carried out to study the prevalence and antibiotic resistance pattern of L. pneumophila strains isolated from patients suffered from RTIs. Totally, 250 respiratory samples were selected and immediately tested. All samples were cultured and those that were positive for L. pneumophila were subjected to PCR and disk diffusion.Twenty-seven out of 250 respiratory samples (10.80%) were positive for L. pneumophila. Results were also confirmed by lepA gene–based PCR amplification. Prevalence of L. pneumophila in male and female patients were 13.84% and 7.50%, respectively (P < 0.01). Older than 60 years old patients had the highest prevalence of infection with L. pneumophila (P < 0.05). Bacterial strains harbored the highest levels of resistance against ciprofloxacin (81.48%), erythromycin (77.77%), clarithromycin (51.85%) and moxifloxacin (48.14%), while prevalence of resistance against rifampicin (18.51%), doxycycline (22.22%) and azithromycin (25.92%) was low. Primary identification of L. pneumophila positive strains and their regular treatment with rifampicin, doxycycline and azithromycin can reduce the risk of transmission and spread of L. pneumophila.
Keywords: Legonella Pneumophila; Prevalence; Antibiotic resistance pattern; Respiratory tract infection Back to TOC