UNLABELLED In the context of deciphering the metabolic strategies of the obligate pathogenic fungi in the genus Pneumocystis, the genomes of three species (P. carinii, P. murina, and P. jirovecii) were compared among themselves and with the free-living, phylogenetically related fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe). The underrepresentation of amino acid metabolism pathways compared to those...

Despite the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy, pulmonary complications in AIDS are a common clinical problem. Pneumocystis jiroveci infection causes a life-threatening pneumonia, especially in individuals with CD4 T cell deficiencies as occurs in AIDS. Although Pneumocystis sp. is an extracellular fungal pathogen, CD8 T cells are the predominant lymphocyte recruited to the lung in ...

BACKGROUND Airborne transmission of Pneumocystis has been demonstrated in animal models and is highly probable in humans. However, information concerning burdens of Pneumocystis jirovecii (human-derived Pneumocystis) in exhaled air from infected patients is lacking. Our objective is to evaluate P. jirovecii air diffusion in patients with Pneumocystis pneumonia. METHODS Patients admitted with ...

background: pneumocystis carinii is one of opportunistic organisms especially in immuno-compromised patients. for years, diagnosis of pneumocystis pneumonia (pcp) has relied on microscopic visualization of organism in specimens obtained from the lung either by bronchoalveolar lavage (bal) or by induction of sputum, but failed to provide efficient diagnosis. the aim of this study was to compare ...

Pneumocystis carinii is an opportunistic fungus causing severe pneumonia in immune-compromised hosts. Recent evidence suggests that Pneumocystis exists as separate sex types, though definitive evidence is currently lacking. These studies were undertaken to determine whether Pneumocystis maintains functional meiotic control molecules, which are required for sexual life stages in eukaryotes. Usin...

The detection of Pneumocystis DNA in clinical specimens by using PCR assays is leading to important advances in Pneumocystis pneumonia (PcP) clinical diagnosis, therapy and epidemiology. Highly sensitive and specific PCR tools improved the clinical diagnosis of PcP allowing an accurate, early diagnosis of Pneumocystis infection, which should lead to a decreased duration from onset of symptoms t...

Major surface glycoprotein (Msg), the most abundant cell surface protein of Pneumocystis, plays an important role in the interaction of this opportunistic pathogen with host cells, and its potential for antigenic variation may facilitate evasion of host immune responses. In the present study, we have identified and characterized the promoter region of msg in 3 species of Pneumocystis: P. carini...

We report 13 cases of pulmonary pneumocystis (PCP) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-uninfected patients. Of eight males and five females, with a mean age 55 years, one had breast neoplasia, two common variable (CVID), an autoimmune disease "Goodpasture's syndrome", idiopathic fibrosis (nonspecific interstitial pneumonia/fibrosis (NIP)) undergoing prolonged corticosteroid therapy for no kno...

An immunologically deficient patient had two large nodular densities on the chest x-ray film. On autopsy, large solid accumulations and diffuse pneumonitis with Pneumocystis carinii were found. This represents an unusual manifestation of Pneumocystis carinii.