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- Title
EVALUATION OF PNEUMOCYSTIS JIROVECII IN NORMAL POPULATION.
- Authors
Badiee, Parisa
- Abstract
Introduction and Objectives: Pneumocystis jirovecii is an important cause of pneumonia in immunocompromised patients. Until recently, the diagnosis of pneumocystosisis has usually been made by microscopic demonstration of the organism by specific staining in bronchoalveolar lavage or trans-bronchial biopsy for the presence of the organism. The PCR assay can detect the low levels of P. jirovecii DNA in respiratory specimens, compared with the routine staining methods, which cannot do so. As this organism exists in the respiratory tracts of the healthy patients, in this study, we try to assess the ability of real-time quantitative PCR method to evaluate P. jirovecii in normal population for distinguishing between active pneumonia and colonization. Materials and Methods: Four hundred and thirty eight bronchoalveolar lavage fluids from normal immunocompotent population without any evidence of clinical or radiological symptoms of lung injury were obtained, when undergoing general surgery and intubation. Both immunofluorescence staining and Real-time PCR were used to evaluate the samples. Results: Of the 438 samples, 7 (1.5%) were positive by microscopic examination and the mean of trophic form count in the whole smears was 2. The lower limitation of diagnosis DNA by PCR was 10 copy numbers/ ml BAL. Quantitative PCR was positive in 12 healthy samples (2.7%), as colonization with CT up to 40 and about 1000-copy number of DNA/ml of BAL. All the colonized cases were asymptomatic, HIV negative, with normal total lymphocyte and CD4+ cell counts. Conclusion: As demonstrated in this study, quantitative PCR assay can differentiate between colonization and infection, which could be particularly helpful for the management of immunocompetent patients. This report provides the first cut off value of P. jirovecii DNA from Iran.
- Subjects
PNEUMOCYSTIS pneumonia; IMMUNOLOGICAL deficiency syndrome complications; BRONCHOALVEOLAR lavage; IMMUNOFLUORESCENCE; LYMPHOCYTES
- Publication
Jundishapur Journal of Microbiology, 2013, p4
- ISSN
2008-3645
- Publication type
Article