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ABSTRACT: The use of recombinant fragments of the major surface glycoprotein (Msg) of Pneumocystis jirovecii has proven useful for studying serological immune responses of blood donors and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive (HIV(+)) patients. Here, we have used ELISA to measure antibody titres to Msg fragments (MsgA, MsgB, MsgC1, MsgC3, MsgC8 and MsgC9) in sera isolated in the USA (n=200) and Spain (n=326), to determine whether geographical location affects serological responses to these antigens. Blood donors from Seville exhibited a significantly greater antibody titre to MsgC8, and significantly lower responses to MsgC3 and MsgC9, than did Cincinnati (USA) donors. Spanish blood donors (n=162) also exhibited elevated responses to MsgC1, MsgC8 and MsgC9 as compared with Spanish HIV(+) (n=164) patients. HIV(+) patients who had Pneumocystis pneumonia (PcP(+)) exhibited a higher response to MsgC8 than did HIV(+) PcP(-) patients. These data show that geographical location plays a role in responsiveness to Msg fragments. Additionally, these fragments have utility in differentiating HIV(+) PcP and HIV(+) PcP(+) among patient populations.
Clinical Microbiology and Infection 04/2009; 15(10):937-42. · 4.54 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Although asymptomatic carriers of Pneumocystis jirovecii with cystic fibrosis (CF) have been described previously, the molecular epidemiology of P. jirovecii in CF patients has not yet been clarified. This study identified the distribution and dynamic evolution of P. jirovecii genotypes based on the mitochondrial large-subunit (mt LSU) rRNA gene. The mt LSU rRNA genotypes of P. jirovecii isolates in 33 respiratory samples from CF patients were investigated using nested PCR and direct sequencing. Three different genotypes were detected: 36.3% genotype 1 (85C/248C); 15.1% genotype 2 (85A/248C); 42.4% genotype 3 (85T/248C); and 6% mixed genotypes. Patients studied during a 1-year follow-up period showed a continuous colonisation/clearance cycle involving P. jirovecii and an accumulative tendency to be colonised with genotype 3.
Clinical Microbiology and Infection 11/2007; 13(10):1008-11. · 4.54 Impact Factor
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The Journal of Infectious Diseases 06/2006; 193(9):1332-3. · 6.41 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: A prospective study was conducted to determine the prevalence of colonisation by Pneumocystis jirovecii in 80 consecutive patients who required bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) following suspicion of interstitial lung disease (ILD). The mtLSU rRNA gene of P. jirovecii was identified by nested PCR in BAL samples. Patients with ILDs were divided into three groups: group A comprised those with idiopathic interstitial pneumonias; group B comprised those with sarcoidosis; and group C comprised those with other ILDs. The overall prevalence of P. jirovecii carriage was 33.8%, with colonisation rates of 37.8%, 18.8% and 37% in groups A, B and C, respectively (p not significant). There were more smokers among the carriers, but there were no other significant differences between carriers and non-carriers. The high prevalence of P. jirovecii carriers found among immunocompetent patients with ILDs in Spain suggests a possible role of P. jirovecii in the natural history of these diseases.
Clinical Microbiology and Infection 04/2006; 12(3):231-5. · 4.54 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Pneumocystis jirovecii colonisation may occur among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients because of their underlying pulmonary disease. A wide epidemiological analysis was performed among CF patients from Spain to assess the prevalence of P. jirovecii colonisation and the distribution of different genotypes. P. jirovecii was identified by nested PCR targeting the mitochondrial large-subunit rRNA gene from sputum samples or oropharyngeal washes. The genotype was determined by direct sequencing. The prevalence of P. jirovecii colonisation among 88 consecutive CF patients was 21.5%. The polymorphisms identified were 85C/248C (45.4%), 85T/248C (27.2%) and 85A/248C (18.1%); in one case, a mix of genotypes was found. Colonisation was more frequent in subjects aged < 18 years (25.5% vs. 15.1%). Among the patients studied, 20.8% received treatment with azithromycin; all of these patients were colonised with P. jirovecii, but none developed Pneumocystis pneumonia (PcP) during a 1-year follow-up period. Concordance in the colonisation status of siblings suggested a common source of infection or person-to-person transmission.
Clinical Microbiology and Infection 12/2005; 11(12):1012-5. · 4.54 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Pneumocystis infection occurs worldwide, and most individuals test seropositive for Pneumocystis early in childhood. Little is known about the epidemiology of this infection in western Europe. The seroprevalence of Pneumocystis infection in 233 Spanish children was determined in a community study by immunoblot analysis of sera. The overall seroprevalence was 73%, with an age-related increase from 52% at 6 years to 66% at 10 years and 80% at 13 years. The data indicated a high seroprevalence of Pneumocystis infection in healthy Spanish children, thereby demonstrating that this pathogen is widespread in southern Spain.
Clinical Microbiology and Infection 12/2004; 10(11):1029-31. · 4.54 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Since mutations in the dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS) gene possibly associated with sulfonamide resistance have been reported in patients with Pneumocystis jiroveci (previously carinii) pneumonia, and since P. jiroveci colonization has been recently demonstrated in patients with chronic pulmonary diseases, the present study aimed to investigate the possible occurrence of P. jiroveci DHPS mutations in patients with chronic bronchitis. P. jiroveci colonization was detected in 15 of 37 non-selected patients with chronic bronchitis by amplifying the large subunit of the mitochondrial gene of the ribosomal RNA using nested PCR. DHPS mutations were demonstrated using touchdown PCR and restriction enzyme analysis in two of eight patients with chronic bronchitis and in two of six patients from the same region who had AIDS-associated Pneumocystis pneumonia. In all cases, mutations were observed in subjects with no prior exposure to sulfonamides. These data could have important implications for public health, since (i) P. jiroveci colonization could speed the progression of chronic bronchitis, and (ii) these patients, who are customary sputum producers, could represent a reservoir for sulfonamide-resistant strains with the potential ability to transmit them to immunocompromised hosts susceptible to Pneumocystis pneumonia.
European Journal of Clinical Microbiology 08/2004; 23(7):545-9. · 2.86 Impact Factor
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E J Calderón, J M Varela,
F J Medrano,
V Nieto,
C González-Becerra,
N Respaldiza,
C De La Horra,
M A Montes-Cano,
E Vigil,
M A González de la Puente,
J A Cuello
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ABSTRACT: In order to investigate the impact of Pneumocystis carinii infection in southern Spain following the introduction of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), all cases of pneumocystosis between 1998 and 1999 were identified from data compiled by the national surveillance system. In total, 498 cases of pneumocystosis were recorded, of which 87% involved HIV-positive patients. The mean age, length of hospital stay and mortality were higher for HIV-negative patients. There was a higher number of cases in winter. Despite HAART implementation, pneumocystosis remains a significant health problem for both HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients.
Clinical Microbiology and Infection 08/2004; 10(7):673-6. · 4.54 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The modes of infection and transmission of Pneumocystis jiroveci remain unclear. This study explored the relationship between the incidence of infection and climatic factors. In total, 536 cases of P. jiroveci infection were identified in the period 1994-1998, with an inverse correlation between the incidence of Pneumocystis pneumonia and the minimum mean ambient temperature (Spearman correlation coefficient: r - 0.30; p 0.02; ARIMA model: r - 0.250, p 0.07). The highest number of cases occurred in winter (anova test, p < 0.05), and there was a clear season-related incidence of P. jiroveci infection.
Clinical Microbiology and Infection 08/2004; 10(8):770-2. · 4.54 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: This study describes the genotype distribution of Pneumocystis jiroveci in 79 respiratory samples obtained from 15 patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) with P. jiroveci pneumonia and 64 human immunodeficiency virus-negative subjects with different chronic pulmonary diseases. The genotyping was based in analysis of 2 independent genetic loci: the mitochondrial large subunit ribosomal RNA (mt LSU rRNA) fragment (assessed by direct sequencing) and the gene for dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS; assessed by restriction fragment-length polymorphism). The mt LSU rRNA analysis revealed the presence of 3 different polymorphisms for both populations. The major genotype, 85C/248C, was found to be significantly higher in patients with AIDS and P. jiroveci pneumonia than in patients with pulmonary disease. The rate of genotypes 85A/248C and 85T/248C was similar in both groups. The analysis of DHPS genotypes assesses the prevalence of its 4 possible genotypes, with 35.5% of genotypes related to sulfa resistance. The data suggest a common source of infection between both groups.
Clinical Infectious Diseases 08/2004; 39(1):123-8. · 9.15 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Tobacco smoking is the most important but not the only risk factor in lung carcinoma. There is evidence that certain infections, which cause chronic inflammatory reactions, can also induce tumour development. It has recently been shown that patients with chronic pulmonary diseases present a high rate of subclinical Pneumocystis infection, and that the latter is able to induce inflammatory responses and alveolar cell alterations. The possible role of Pneumocystis infection in the development of lung neoplasms thus deserves consideration.
Polymerase chain reaction has been used to analyze the presence of DNA of two independent loci of the Pneumocystis genome: the mitochondrial region (mtLSU rRNA) and the gene encoding for the dihydropteroate synthase enzyme, in paraffin-embedded tissue blocks of 10 cases of small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) and 10 cases of nonsmall cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) with similar demographic and clinical characteristics. Five cases without lung pathology, and two cases of Pneumocystis pneumonia were also analyzed as controls.
DNA of the microorganism was found in all the cases of SCLC but in only two of the NSCLC, and in none of the controls without pulmonary disease - thus implying a statistically significant association (P < 0.0001) between subclinical Pneumocystis infection and SCLC.
While the nature of this association is not clear, it nevertheless constitutes an important finding - either the infection is specifically facilitated by this tumour or induces the development of this type of neoplasm in combination with other factors. Eur J Clin Invest 2004; 34 (3): 229-335
European Journal of Clinical Investigation 04/2004; 34(3):229-35. · 3.02 Impact Factor
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Annals of Pharmacotherapy 12/2001; 35(11):1492. · 2.13 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: In spite of the high prevalence of Pneumocystis carinii (PC) pneumonia in immunocompromised patients, little is known about the epidemiological characteristics of this infection, and whether the cases of PC pneumonia in immunosuppressed patients are the result of a reactivation of a latent infection or a due to a recent infection is unknown. The aim of this study was to provide information about the epidemiological characteristics of PC pneumonia in a cohort of heart transplant (HT) recipients when compared with the epidemiology of PC infection in a cohort of chronic sputum producers (CSP) representative of the general population of the same geographical area.
We identified all the cases of PC pneumonia in the cohort of 72 subjects who underwent cardiac transplantation at our institution between January 1991 and December 1996 and compared them with the cases of PC infection identified in a non-selected cohort of 34 CSP. This second group was included to obtain an approximation of the frequency of PC carriers in the general population. Identification of PC was accomplished through customary stain techniques and immunofluorescence with monoclonal antibodies.
Of the 72 HT recipients four (5.5%) developed PC pneumonia, but one had two episodes. Only one had received primary chemoprophylaxis, but developed PC pneumonia 2 months after discontinuing prophylactic therapy. PC pneumonia episodes were produced 53, 102, 230, 181 and 772 days after the moment of transplant, respectively. PC was identified in two (5.8%) of the 34 CSP. No significant differences were found when the accumulative incidences of PC pneumonia in HT patients and PC infection in CSP were compared (P=0.7).
The frequency of PC pneumonia among HT patients is the same as the frequency of PC infection in the general population. This observation and the long interval between transplantation and the development of PC pneumonia observed in the study support the hypothesis that the occurrence of PC pneumonia in immunocompromised patients might be from a new infection rather than from the reactivation of latent organisms. Therefore, continuous prophylaxis might be indicated in areas with a high prevalence of PC for patients at highest risk.
European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery 11/2001; 20(4):799-802. · 2.55 Impact Factor
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European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 01/2001; 56(9-10):769-70. · 2.85 Impact Factor
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New England Journal of Medicine 02/2000; 342(2):136-7. · 53.30 Impact Factor
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European Journal of Clinical Microbiology 11/1998; 17(10):741-2. · 2.86 Impact Factor
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British journal of rheumatology 04/1998; 37(3):349-50.
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ABSTRACT: Following the unexpected finding of antibodies to GBM in a patient with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in the absence of kidney abnormalities, the presence of anti-GBM antibodies was analysed in 14 patients with pulmonary P. carinii infection who did not have clinical evidence of autoimmune glomerulonephritis. Patients were divided into three groups: HIV- with P. carinii pneumonia (n = 4), HIV+ with P. carinii pneumonia (n = 5) and HIV- carriers of P. carinii without pneumonia (n = 5). As control groups, HIV- patients with community-acquired non-P. carinii pneumonia (n = 6) and healthy individuals (n = 16) were included. Anti-GBM antibodies, studied with a quantitative enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for anti-alpha3 chain of collagen IV antibodies, were detected in three out of the four HIV-patients with P. carinii pneumonia, but not in any individuals of the other categories. These results suggest that P. carinii alveolar injury or the host response to the organism could affect the basal membrane Goodpasture antigen or a similar antigen, and induces anti-GBM antibody production in HIV- patients, and support the hypothesis that, at least in some cases, Goodpasture's syndrome could be triggered by an alveolar lesion induced by a P. carinii pneumonia.
Clinical & Experimental Immunology 04/1997; 107(3):448-50. · 3.36 Impact Factor
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Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiología Clínica 11/1996; 14(8):505. · 1.49 Impact Factor
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The Lancet 05/1996; 347(9006):977. · 38.28 Impact Factor
