gms | German Medical Science

10. Kongress für Infektionskrankheiten und Tropenmedizin (KIT 2010)

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Infektiologie,
Deutsche AIDS-Gesellschaft,
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Tropenmedizin und Internationale Gesundheit,
Paul-Ehrlich-Gesellschaft für Chemotherapie

23.06. - 26.06.2010, Köln

Prevalence of Pneumocystis jirovecii in HIV positive and HIV negative hospital patients in Cameroon

Prävalenz von Pneumocystis jirovecii in HIV-positiven und HIV-negativen Krankenhauspatienten in Kamerun

Meeting Abstract

  • D. Riebold - Universität Rostock, Tropenmedizin und Infektionskrankheiten, Rostock, Germany
  • D.O. Enoh - Universität Rostock, Tropenmedizin und Infektionskrankheiten, Rostock, Germany; Regional Hospital Limbe, Cameroon
  • M.K. Bumah - Regional Hospital Limbe, Cameroon
  • K. Keil - Universität Rostock, Tropenmedizin und Infektionskrankheiten, Rostock, Germany
  • M. Löbermann - Universität Rostock, Tropenmedizin und Infektionskrankheiten, Rostock, Germany
  • W. Akam - Regional Hospital Limbe, Cameroon
  • T.N. Kinge - Regional Hospital Limbe, Cameroon
  • C.J. Hemmer - Universität Rostock, Tropenmedizin und Infektionskrankheiten, Rostock, Germany
  • J.E. Eyong - Ministry of Public Health, Yaoundé, Cameroon
  • E.C. Reisinger - Universität Rostock, Tropenmedizin und Infektionskrankheiten, Rostock, Germany

10. Kongress für Infektionskrankheiten und Tropenmedizin (KIT 2010). Köln, 23.-26.06.2010. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2010. DocTRO 03-4

doi: 10.3205/10kit051, urn:nbn:de:0183-10kit0514

Published: June 2, 2010

© 2010 Riebold et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.


Outline

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Objective: Except for South Africa, the prevalence of Pneumocystis jirovecii in African countries is almost unknown. Therefore, we analyzed sputa of HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients in a Cameroonian hospital for Pneumocystis jirovecii.

Methods: We examined induced sputum samples from 237 inpatients of the Regional Hospital Limbe (tertiary referral hospital for the Southwest Region of Cameroon) for the presence of Pneumocystis jirovecii (P. jirovecii). P. jirovecii was detected by mitochondrial transcribed large subunit rRNA gene nested PCR (mtLSU nPCR). The mtLSU nPCR allows to distinguish between low parasite loads (usually Pneumocystis colonization, only second PCR step positive) and high parasite loads (usually Pneumocystis pneumonia, first and second PCR step positive).

Results: 129 of 237 patients were HIV-positive and 108 were HIV-negative. Of the 129 HIV-positive patients, 108 (83.7%) had a cough. Of the 108 HIV-negative patients, 73 (67.6%) had a cough. P. jirovecii was detected in 53 of the HIV-positive (41.1%) and in 21 of the HIV-negative patients (19.4%) from Cameroon (p=0.0002). Overall, P. jirovecii DNA was detected in 75 of 237 (31.6%) patients. Cough was present in equal frequency in both groups.

Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study describing the presence of P. jirovecii in Cameroon. Prevalence of P. jirovecii was approximately twice as high in HIV-positive patients, as in HIV-negative patients. Whether the P. jirovecii positive HIV patients were merely Pneumocystis carriers or had Pneumocystis pneumonia could not be judged conclusively. Testing of the isolates for Co-trimoxazole resistance is ongoing.