Pneumocystis jiroveci Dihydropteroate Synthase Genotypes in Immunocompetent Infants and Immunosuppressed Adults, Amiens, France

• Main Authors: Anne Totet, Sophie Latouche, Philippe Lacube, Jean-Claude Pautard, Vincent Jounieaux, Christian Raccurt, Patricia Roux, Gilles Nevez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2004-04-01
• Series: Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: Pneumocystis; human; infant; bronchiolitis; reservoir; circulation
• Online Access: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/10/4/03-0451_article
• ISSN: 1080-6040; 1080-6059

To date, investigations of Pneumocystis jiroveci circulation in the human reservoir through the dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS) locus analysis have only been conducted by examining P. jirovecii isolates from immunosuppressed patients with Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP). Our study identifies P. jirovecii genotypes at this locus in 33 immunocompetent infants colonized with P. jirovecii contemporaneously with a bronchiolitis episode and in 13 adults with PCP; both groups of patients were monitored in Amiens, France. The results have pointed out identical features of P. jirovecii DHPS genotypes in the two groups, suggesting that in these two groups, transmission cycles of P. jirovecii infections are linked. If these two groups represent sentinel populations for P. jirovecii infections, our results suggest that all persons parasitized by P. jirovecii, whatever their risk factor for infection and the form of parasitism they have, act as interwoven circulation networks of P. jirovecii.