| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
Laboratory of Parasitology and Mycology, Hôpital Nord1 and Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Hôpital Bellevue2, University Hospital of Saint Etienne, 42055 Saint Etienne, France
Correspondence Pierre Flori pierre.flori{at}univ-st-etienne.fr
Received November 7, 2003
Accepted February 10, 2004
Between January 2002 and July 2003, 173 bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) specimens from 150 patients (19 HIV-infected and 131 non-HIV-infected patients) were evaluated for identification of Pneumocystis jiroveci (formerly known as Pneumocystis carinii f. sp. hominis) using staining techniques, conventional PCR (mtLSUrRNA gene) and real-time PCR (MSG gene). Test results were compared to Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) confirmed by typical clinical findings and response to treatment. Sensitivity and specificity of the techniques were 60 and 100 % for staining (where either one or both techniques were positive), 100 and 87.0 % for conventional PCR and 100 and 84.9 % for real-time PCR, respectively. The use of a concentration of 103 copies of DNA per capillary of BAL as a cut-off (determined by real-time PCR) increased specificity from 84.9 to 98.6 % without reducing the sensitivity of the technique. This technique is rapid (<3 h) and therefore of major interest in differentiating between asymptomatic carriage and PCP. A BAL specimen with <103 copies per capillary of Pneumocystis-specific DNA is more likely to indicate a chronic carrier state, but in such cases follow-up is required to ensure that the patient is not in the early stage of an active PCP.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  J F Huggett, M S Taylor, G Kocjan, H E Evans, S Morris-Jones, V Gant, T Novak, A M Costello, A Zumla, and R F Miller Development and evaluation of a real-time PCR assay for detection of Pneumocystis jirovecii DNA in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of HIV-infected patients Thorax, February 1, 2008; 63(2): 154 - 159. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 N. Uemura, K. Makimura, M. Onozaki, Y. Otsuka, Y. Shibuya, H. Yazaki, Y. Kikuchi, S. Abe, and S. Kudoh Development of a loop-mediated isothermal amplification method for diagnosing Pneumocystis pneumonia J. Med. Microbiol., January 1, 2008; 57(1): 50 - 57. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. F. Freeman, J. Davis, V. L. Anderson, W. Barson, D. N. Darnell, J. M. Puck, and S. M. Holland Pneumocystis jiroveci Infection in Patients With Hyper-Immunoglobulin E Syndrome Pediatrics, October 1, 2006; 118(4): e1271 - e1275. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
C. F. M. Linssen, J. A. Jacobs, P. Beckers, K. E. Templeton, J. Bakkers, E. J. Kuijper, W. J. G. Melchers, M. Drent, and C. Vink Inter-laboratory comparison of three different real-time PCR assays for the detection of Pneumocystis jiroveci in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples. J. Med. Microbiol., September 1, 2006; 55(Pt 9): 1229 - 1235. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. J. Espy, J. R. Uhl, L. M. Sloan, S. P. Buckwalter, M. F. Jones, E. A. Vetter, J. D. C. Yao, N. L. Wengenack, J. E. Rosenblatt, F. R. Cockerill III, et al. Real-Time PCR in Clinical Microbiology: Applications for Routine Laboratory Testing Clin. Microbiol. Rev., January 1, 2006; 19(1): 165 - 256. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| INT J SYST EVOL MICROBIOL | J MED MICROBIOL | MICROBIOLOGY | J GEN VIROL | ALL SGM JOURNALS |
