engleski

Prevalence of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (2010-2013) : The first Croatian report

Pneumocystis jirovecii is an important cause of interstitial pneumonia particularly among immunocompromised hosts. We analysed the prevalence of P. jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) among HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected patients presented with interstitial pneumonia or acute respiratory syndrome hospitalized in six Croatian tertiary care hospitals. Over four-year period (2010–2013), a total of 328 lower respiratory tract samples: 253 (77.1%) bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, 43 (13.1%) tracheal aspirates and 32 (9.8%) bronchial aspirates from 290 patients were examined by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCP was detected in 23 (7.9%) patients. The prevalence of PCP differed significantly among tested groups (c 2 = 95.03 ; d.f. = 3 ; p < 0.001). HIV-infected patients were more often positive (56.6%, 95%CI = 37.3–72.4) compared to other groups (patients with malignant disease 7.7%, 95%CI = 2.6–20.3 ; transplant patients 7.7%, 95%CI = 2.2–24.1 ; patients with other diagnosis 1.5%, 95%CI = 0.5–4.4). Majority of HIV-positive patients (80%) were newly diagnosed cases. Our results indicate that HIV-infected patients still represents the main risk group for P. jirovecii infection. PCP is responsible for pneumonia in 56.6% HIV-positive patients in Croatia, primarily those who do not know that they are HIV infected.

Pneumocystis jirovecii; prevalence; Croatia; real-time PCR

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