Airborne Interindividual Transmission of Pneumocystis jirovecii

Abstract

Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) is the most frequent AIDS-defining disease among HIVinfected individuals in developed countries, and also affects immunocompromised non-HIV patients. Experimental studies on rodent models carried out in the early eighties have shown that Pneumocystis spp. can be transmitted via the airborne route. Unfortunately, this mode of acquisition and transmission has long been overlooked by physicians because PCP in immunosuppressed patients was considered to result from reactivation of a latent endogenous infection. This hypothesis was further investigated and, at present, PCP is considered to frequently result from the de novo acquisition of the fungus. This paradigm shift is correlated with the development of highly sensitive detection techniques and molecular characterization of Pneumocystis spp. in animal models and humans. This review article describes the milestones that have been achieved on the knowledge on the airborne interindividual transmission of Pneumocystis jirovecii.

Pneumocystis primary infection in non-immunosuppressed infants in Lima, Peru

“…Interindividual transmission of Pneumocystis sp. has clearly been established in rodent models [17,18] and is highly probable in humans (review in [19]).…”