TY  - JOUR
AU  - Pougnet, Laurence
AU  - Le Gal, Solène
AU  - Nevez, Gilles
PY  - 2019
DA  - 2019/05/22
TI  - Airborne Interindividual Transmission of <i>Pneumocystis jirovecii</i>
JO  - OBM Genetics
SP  - 080
VL  - 03
IS  - 02
AB  - Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) is the most frequent AIDS-defining disease among HIV-infected individuals in developed countries, and also affects immunocompromised non-HIV patients. Experimental studies on rodent models carried out in the early eighties have shown that Pneumocystis spp. can be transmitted via the airborne route. Unfortunately, this mode of acquisition and transmission has long been overlooked by physicians because PCP in immunosuppressed patients was considered to result from reactivation of a latent endogenous infection. This hypothesis was further investigated and, at present, PCP is considered to frequently result from the de novo acquisition of the fungus. This paradigm shift is correlated with the development of highly sensitive detection techniques and molecular characterization of Pneumocystis spp. in animal models and humans. This review article describes the milestones that have been achieved on the knowledge on the airborne interindividual transmission of Pneumocystis jirovecii.
SN  - 2577-5790
UR  - https://doi.org/10.21926/obm.genet.1902080
DO  - 10.21926/obm.genet.1902080
ID  - Pougnet2019
ER  -