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. 2009 Dec;47(12):3871-4.
doi: 10.1128/JCM.01756-09. Epub 2009 Oct 21.

Serum (1-3)-beta-D-glucan as a tool for diagnosis of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection or hematological malignancy

Stefanie Desmet  1 , Eric Van Wijngaerden, Johan Maertens, Jan Verhaegen, Eric Verbeken, Paul De Munter, Wouter Meersseman, Britt Van Meensel, Johan Van Eldere, Katrien Lagrou
Affiliations

Serum (1-3)-beta-D-glucan as a tool for diagnosis of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection or hematological malignancy

Stefanie Desmet et al. J Clin Microbiol. 2009 Dec.

Abstract

(1-3)-Beta-D-Glucan (BG) reactivity was tested in serum samples from 28 patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection or a hematological malignancy and Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) and 28 control patients. The sensitivity and specificity of BG detection with the Fungitell assay for PCP were 100 and 96.4%, respectively, using a cutoff value of 100 pg/ml. Serum BG testing looks promising for the noninvasive diagnosis of PCP. Our data suggest that a higher cutoff value for the diagnosis of PCP than for the diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis or candidiasis could be used safely and will improve the specificity of the test.

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