Volume 18, Number 5—May 2012
Letter
Possible Nosocomial Transmission of Pneumocystis jirovecii
Table
Genotyping of Pneumocystis jirovecii in pairs of pulmonary and air samples from 15 patients with Pneumocystis pneumonia*
| Patient no.† | No. days between pulmonary and air sampling | ITS genotype (no. sequenced clones)‡ |
DHPS genotype§ |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulmonary sample | Air sample | Pulmonary sample | Air sample | |||
| 1 | 6 | Gg, Fg (3)¶ | ND | Wild | ND | |
| 2 | 1 | Ih (3) | Eg (3) | Wild | ND | |
| 4 | 0 | Gg (3) | Gg (3) | Wild | Wild | |
| 5 | 0 | Eg (3) | Ec, Eg (3)¶ | Wild | Wild | |
| 6 | 0 | Eg (3) | Eg (3) | Mutant 171# | Mutant 171 | |
| 7 | 1 | Eg (3) | ND | Wild | Wild | |
| 8 | 0 | Eg (2) | Eg (1) | Wild | ND | |
| 10 | 0 | Eg (3) | ND | Mutant 171 | ND | |
| 11 | 0 | Be, Ec (3¶) | Ec (3) | Mutant 165** | Mutant 165 | |
| 13 | 2 | Eg (3) | ND | Wild | ND | |
| 15 | 0 | Eg, Fg (3)¶ | ND | Wild + mutant 171 | ND | |
| 16 | 0 | Eg (3) | ND | Wild | Wild | |
| 17 | 1 | Ie, Ih (2) | ND | Wild | ND | |
| 18 | 1 | Bl (3) | Bl (3) | Wild + mutant 165 | ND | |
| 19 | 0 | Eg, Bl (3¶) | ND | Wild + mutant 165 | ND | |
*ITS, internal transcribed spacers; DHPS, dihydropteroate synthase;
†Patients are numbered as described in (6). Pulmonary samples were bronchoalveloar lavage specimens for patients 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 18, and 19 and induced sputum specimens for patients 1, 5, 13, 15, 16, and 17.
‡P. jirovecii ITS genotype identification using sequence analysis with a prior cloning step and applying the score by Lee et al. (2).
§P. jirovecii DHPS genotype identification using a PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism assay (8).
¶Major ITS genotype, as identified in 2 of 3 clones.
#Mutant genotype with the mutation at position 171.
**Mutant genotype with the mutation at position 165.
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