Wakefield AE; Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, UK.
Studies using molecular biological techniques and animal models of P.carinii pneumonia have extended our understanding of the epidemiology of P.carinii infection. The infection has been demonstrated to be host-species specific, indicating that the infection in man is unlikely to be a zoonosis. Data also suggest that the persistence of the infection after a primary episode of P.carinii pneumonia is limited and that P.carinii pneumonia may not arise from reactivation of latent infection, but rather from infection from an exogenous source. DNA sequences identical to P.carinii have been identified in air samples collected in a rural location, suggesting that P.carinii may be a component of the environmental air spora. The development of molecular methods of typing has enabled us to distinguish between different isolates of the organism and has facilitated epidemiological studies on recurrent episodes of P.carinii pneumonia. The question of the possible transmission of P.carinii infection among immunocompromised individuals will be discussed in the light of these data.
Keywords: AEGIS, Pneumonia, Pneumocystis carinii, Immunocompromised Host, Epidemiologic Studies, Human, Male, epidemiology, immunology, AIDS
