Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2015 Sep 28;1(3):293-331.
doi: 10.3390/jof1030293.

Pneumocystis Pneumonia in Solid-Organ Transplant Recipients

Affiliations
Review

Pneumocystis Pneumonia in Solid-Organ Transplant Recipients

Xavier Iriart et al. J Fungi (Basel). .

Abstract

Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) is well known and described in AIDS patients. Due to the increasing use of cytotoxic and immunosuppressive therapies, the incidence of this infection has dramatically increased in the last years in patients with other predisposing immunodeficiencies and remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality in solid-organ transplant (SOT) recipients. PCP in HIV-negative patients, such as SOT patients, harbors some specificity compared to AIDS patients, which could change the medical management of these patients. This article summarizes the current knowledge on the epidemiology, risk factors, clinical manifestations, diagnoses, prevention, and treatment of Pneumocystis pneumonia in solid-organ transplant recipients, with a particular focus on the changes caused by the use of post-transplantation prophylaxis.

Keywords: Pneumocystis jirovecii; Pneumocystis pneumonia; solid-organ transplant recipients; transplantation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors of this manuscript have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Risk of Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) at post-transplantation over time in patients that benefited from early prophylaxis with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX). Adapted from Iriart et al. [27]. The two dotted lines (1 and 2 years) delimit three different periods in the occurrence of the disease after the transplantation.

References

    1. Roblot F., Godet C., le Moal G., Garo B., Faouzi Souala M., Dary M., de Gentile L., Gandji J.A., Guimard Y., Lacroix C., et al. Analysis of underlying diseases and prognosis factors associated with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in immunocompromised HIV-negative patients. Eur. J. Clin. Microbiol. Infect. Dis. 2002;21:523–531. - PubMed
    1. Sepkowitz K.A. Opportunistic infections in patients with and patients without Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. Clin. Infect. Dis. 2002;34:1098–1107. doi: 10.1086/339548. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chabe M., Durand-Joly I., Dei-Cas E. Transmission of Pneumocystis infection in humans. Med. Sci. 2012;28:599–604. - PubMed
    1. Hughes W.T. Natural mode of acquisition for de novo infection with Pneumocystis carinii. J. Infect. Dis. 1982;145:842–848. doi: 10.1093/infdis/145.6.842. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cushion M.T., Linke M.J., Ashbaugh A., Sesterhenn T., Collins M.S., Lynch K., Brubaker R., Walzer P.D. Echinocandin treatment of Pneumocystis pneumonia in rodent models depletes cysts leaving trophic burdens that cannot transmit the infection. PLoS ONE. 2010;5:e8524. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008524. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources