Search for Primary Infection by Pneumocystis carinii in a Cohort of Normal, Healthy Infants

To determine whether Pneumocystis carinii is associated with clinical illness in the competent host, 107 normal, healthy infants were enrolled in a 2-year prospective cohort study in Chile. P. carinii was identified by specific stains and nested-deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) amplification of the large...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Clinical infectious diseases Vol. 32; no. 6; pp. 855 - 861
Main Authors:	Vargas, Sergio L., Hughes, Walter T., Santolaya, Maria E., Ulloa, Ana V., Ponce, Carolina A., Cabrera, Cecilia E., Cumsille, Francisco, Gigliotti, Francis
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Chicago, IL The University of Chicago Press 15-03-2001 University of Chicago Press
Subjects:	Apnea Biological and medical sciences Carrier State - diagnosis Carrier State - epidemiology Chile Chile - epidemiology DNA DNA, Fungal - analysis Human mycoses Humans Infant Infant, Newborn Infants Infections Infectious diseases Lungs Major Article Medical sciences Mycoses Mycoses of the respiratory system Pneumocystis - genetics Pneumocystis - isolation & purification Pneumocystis carinii Pneumocystis Infections - diagnosis Pneumocystis Infections - epidemiology Pneumocystis pneumonia Polymerase chain reaction Prospective Studies Respiratory tract infections Respiratory Tract Infections - diagnosis Respiratory Tract Infections - epidemiology Serologic Tests Symptoms Tropical medicine South America Chile America Human Mycosis Respiratory disease Primary infection Infant Pneumocystis carinii Fungi Infection Respiratory tract Symptomatology Immunocompetence Fungi Imperfecti Thallophyta
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Summary:	To determine whether Pneumocystis carinii is associated with clinical illness in the competent host, 107 normal, healthy infants were enrolled in a 2-year prospective cohort study in Chile. P. carinii was identified by specific stains and nested-deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) amplification of the large subunit mitochondrial ribosomal ribonucleic acid gene of P. carinii f. sp. hominis, and seroconversion was assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay of serum samples drawn every 2 months. P. carinii DNA was identified in nasopharyngeal aspirates obtained during episodes of mild respiratory infection in 24 (32%) of 74 infants from whom specimens were available for testing. Three (12.5%) of those 24 infants versus 0 of 50 infants who tested negative for P. carinii had apnea episodes. Seroconversion developed in 67 (85%) of 79 infants who remained in the study by 20 months of age and occurred in the absence of any symptoms of disease in 14 (20.8%). The study indicates that P. carinii DNA can be frequently detected in healthy infants, and it raises the hypothesis that they may be an infectious reservoir of P. carinii in the community. Further investigation is needed to identify whether P. carinii causes overt respiratory disease in infants.
Bibliography:	Presented in part: 37th annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, Philadelphia, 18–21 November 1999. ark:/67375/HXZ-30XG6P2W-K istex:6BA663758114BC4164C05B8F47575DBCDE6FC914 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:	1058-4838 1537-6591
DOI:	10.1086/319340