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Enigmatic fungus causes pneumonia
September 03, 2001The origin of a fungus that causes pneumonia in people with poor immune systems is a mystery, medical experts heard today (Thursday 13 September 2001) at the bi-annual meeting of the Society of General Microbiology at the University of East Anglia.
Dr Robert Miller of the Royal Free and University College Medical School, London" says, “ the majority of healthy children and adults have antibodies to the fungus Pneumocystis carinii but we cannot detect it in fluid or lung tissue from healthy individuals. Apart from those patients with P. carinii pneumonia the fungus can only be found in a small number of HIV positive or mildly immunosuppressed patients who have other respiratory diseases. So the source of new infections of this disease, which affects approximately 150 immunocompromised patients in the UK each year, is unknown.”
According to Dr Miller, “There are many different species of P. carinii, which affect man and other mammals. However studies of the genetics of the fungus have shown that it is not possible to pass infection from different host species to man so we know that animals are not the source of the infections.”
“We now think that there must be a small infectious reservoir of the disease in otherwise healthy people with chronic obstructive lung disease, such as people with cystic fibrosis or cancer, and they are acting as a focus for transmission to immunosuppressed patients,” says Dr Miller.
“If our theories are correct than this could have implications for how we handle people with P. carinii pneumonia in hospitals and in the community. It may be necessary to keep patients with P. carinii pneumonia in respiratory isolation from other immunosuppressed patients. It should also inform decisions about rational use of preventative treatments in targeted immunosuppressed groups, ” says Dr Miller.
Society for General Microbiology
“We now think that there must be a small infectious reservoir of the disease in otherwise healthy people with chronic obstructive lung disease, such as people with cystic fibrosis or cancer, and they are acting as a focus for transmission to immunosuppressed patients,” says Dr Miller.
“If our theories are correct than this could have implications for how we handle people with P. carinii pneumonia in hospitals and in the community. It may be necessary to keep patients with P. carinii pneumonia in respiratory isolation from other immunosuppressed patients. It should also inform decisions about rational use of preventative treatments in targeted immunosuppressed groups, ” says Dr Miller.
Society for General Microbiology
Pneumonia Current Events and Pneumonia News RSSPrioritizing low-cost, simple health measures would save 2.5 million child lives a year
Almost a third of the children under age five who die each year could be saved if governments rebalance health spending to ensure low-cost, simple interventions such as safe water and hygiene, bed nets and basic maternal and newborn care, leading aid agency World Vision said today. Currently, 8.8 million children a year die before age five, most of preventable causes.
Fewer emergency patients seen within recommended time frame
One in four emergency department patients in 2006 waited longer to be evaluated by a clinician than recommended at triage, an increase from one in five in 1997.
Possible help in fight against muscle-wasting disease
A compound already used to treat pneumonia could become a new therapy for an inherited muscular wasting disease, according to researchers at the University of Oregon and the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York.
Henry Ford Hospital study: A MRSA strain linked to high death rates
A strain of MRSA that causes bloodstream infections is five times more lethal than other strains and has shown to have some resistance to the potent antibiotic drug vancomycin used to treat MRSA, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study.
Commentary warns of unexpected consequences of proton pump inhibitor use in reflux disease
Despite being highly effective and beneficial for many patients, unexpected consequences are emerging in patients who are prescribed proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for reflux diseases.
Scientists discover influenza's Achilles heel: Antioxidants
As the nation copes with a shortage of vaccines for H1N1 influenza, a team of Alabama researchers have raised hopes that they have found an Achilles' heel for all strains of the flu-antioxidants.
Lessons from flu seasons past
Pregnant women who catch the flu are at serious risk for flu-related complications, including death, and that risk far outweighs the risk of possible side effects from injectable vaccines containing killed virus, according to an extensive review of published research and data from previous flu seasons.
Older Patients with Dementia at Increased Risk for Flu Mortality
An epidemiological study on pneumonia and influenza (P&I) in adults age 65 and over reports that patients with dementia are diagnosed with flu less frequently, have shorter hospital stays, and have a fifty percent higher rate of death than those without dementia.
OMRF scientists discover promising new path for treating traumas
A discovery by scientists at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation could help save lives threatened by traumatic injuries like those sustained in car crashes or on the battlefield. The work also holds potential for treating severe infectious diseases and diabetes.
Scientists create NICE solution to pneumonia vaccine testing problems
Medical clinics the world over could benefit from new software* created at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where a team of scientists has found a way to improve the efficiency of a pneumonia vaccine testing method developed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
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