Pneumocystis jirovecii is a major cause of life-threatening pneumonia in immunosuppressed patients including transplant recipients and those with HIV/AIDS, yet surprisingly little is known about the biology of this fungal pathogen. Here we report near complete genome assemblies for three Pneumocystis species that infect humans, rats and mice. Pneumocystis genomes are highly compact relative to ...

1. Beard CB, Fox MR, Lawrence GG, et al. Differences in Pneumocystis isolates recovered fromimmunocompetent infants and from adults with AIDS: epidemiological implications. J Infect Dis 2005; 192:1815–8. 2. Montes-Cano MA, de la Horra C, Martı́n-Juan J, et al. Pneumocystis jiroveci genotypes in the Spanish population. Clin Infect Dis 2004; 39: 123–8. 3. Beard CB, Carter JL, Keely SP, et al. Gene...

The highest risk of opportunistic infections is from 1 to 6 months post-transplant. We report a rare case of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia in a renal transplant recipient only on maintenance immunosuppression eleven years after transplant without concomitant CMV infection or recent episodes of graft rejection.

We report six cases of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) verified by immunoflourescence/polymerase chain reaction of bronchoalveolar fluid among 46 lymphoma patients (13%) who received rituximab-CHOEP-14 at our institution. PCP prophylaxis should be standard management for this group of patients and also considered for patients treated with rituximab-CHOP-14, CHOP-14 or CHOEP-14.

In a prospective study of 660 HIV-positive Malawian adults, we diagnosed Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PcP) using clinical features, induced sputum for immunofluorescent staining, real-time PCR, and posttreatment follow-up. PcP incidence was highest in patients with the lowest CD4 counts, but PcP is uncommon compared with incidences of pulmonary tuberculosis and bacterial pneumonia.

Dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS) gene mutations have raised concerns about emerging sulfonamide resistance in Pneumocystis jirovecii. DHPS and dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene products were amplified in clinical specimens from South African patients. One of 53 DHPS genes sequenced contained the double mutation Thr55Ala Pro57Ser. DHFR gene mutations detected were Ala67Val and the new mutations...

A 76-year-old man, who was in the hospital for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus and was receiving gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist treatment for prostate cancer, developed fever and hypoxemia. Imaging revealed diffuse interstitial shadows, and PCR of the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was positive for Pneumocystis jirovecii. The patient's absolute CD4-positive lymphocyte cou...

Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) caused by the opportunistic fungal agent Pneumocystis jirovecii (formerly P. carinii) continues to cause illness and death in HIV-infected patients. In the absence of a culture system to isolate and maintain live organisms, efforts to type and characterize the organism have relied on polymerase chain reaction-based approaches. Studies using these methods have improv...

Pneumocystis jirovecii is an airborne human-specific ascomycetous fungus responsible for Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) in immunocompromised patients, affecting >500,000 patients per year (www.gaffi.org). The understanding of its epidemiology is limited by the lack of standardised culture. Recent genotyping data suggests a limited genetic diversity of P. jirovecii. The objective of the study was ...

The purpose of this study was to investigate dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS) mutations and their clinical context in non-HIV-infected patients with Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP). DHPS genes in respiratory samples collected from HIV-negative patients with PCP presented between January 2008 and April 2011 were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequenced. Basic clinical data from the...