[Pneumocystis jiroveci: epidemiological, pathophysiological and biological update]

Abstract

One century after its discovery, Pneumocystis jiroveci is an infectious agent still responsible of a high mortality rate among immunocompromised patients. Molecular biology advances have authorized some important progress mainly concerning epidemiology, pathophysiology and biological diagnosis. It has also brought a lot of publication on the subject. They describe a large panel of different biological diagnosis method. The purpose of this article is to synthesize these knowledges and to update the laboratory diagnosis strategy.