Molecular evidence of Pneumocystis jirovecii reinfection in a haemato-oncology patient

Abstract

For many years Pneumocystis pneumonia was thought to be caused by the reactivation of a latent infection, but several studies have demonstrated that Pneumocystis jirovecii infection can be acquired de novo. On the basis of our results obtained from a patient with recurrent pneumocystosis, we support the hypothesis that recurrent episodes are caused by reinfection.

Keywords

• Pneumocystis
• recurrent pneumonia
• reinfection
• mt LSU rRNA gene polymorphism