Importance of tissue sampling, laboratory methods, and patient characteristics for detection of Pneumocystis in autopsied lungs of non-immunosuppressed individuals

• Published in: European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases Vol. 36; no. 10; pp. 1711 - 1716
• Main Authors: Vargas, S. L., Ponce, C., Bustamante, R., Calderón, E., Nevez, G., De Armas, Y., Matos, O., Miller, R. F., Gallo, M. J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.10.2017; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Verlag
• Subjects: Autopsies; Autopsy; Autopsy - methods; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Colonization; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Epidemiology; Human health and pathology; Humans; Immunology; Internal Medicine; Laboratories; Life Sciences; Lung - microbiology; Lungs; Medical Microbiology; Microbiological Techniques - methods; Microbiology and Parasitology; Pneumocystis - isolation & purification; Pneumonia, Pneumocystis - diagnosis; Pneumonia, Pneumocystis - microbiology; Pulmonology and respiratory tract; Review; Sampling; Sampling methods; Specimen Handling - methods; Lung Tissue Weight; Jirovecii; Chilled Serum; Pulmonary Colonization; Autopsy Lung
• ISSN: 0934-9723; 1435-4373
• DOI: 10.1007/s10096-017-3006-8

To understand the epidemiological significance of Pneumocystis detection in a lung tissue sample of non-immunosuppressed individuals, we examined sampling procedures, laboratory methodology, and patient characteristics of autopsy series reported in the literature. Number of tissue specimens, DNA-extraction procedures, age and underlying diagnosis highly influence yield and are critical to understand yield differences of Pneumocystis among reports of pulmonary colonization in immunocompetent individuals.