We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from Part XXII - Specific Organisms – Fungi
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2013
The diffuse bilateral pneumonitis caused by Pneumocystis jirovecii (also called Pneumocystis carinii) occurs almost exclusively in immunocompromised patients with cancer, organ transplantation, congenital immunodeficiency disorders, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The organism is known to cause pneumonitis occasionally in patients without underlying immunodeficiency.
CLINICAL FEATURES
The clinical manifestations of Pneumocystis pneumonitis are fever, cough, tachypnea, and dyspnea progressing to cyanosis. The onset may be abrupt or subtle.
With an abrupt onset, fever, marked increase in respiratory rate, and severe dyspnea occur within 24 to 48 hours. The disease progresses rapidly with marked decrease in arterial oxygen tension (PaO2) and increase in alveolar-arterial oxygen gradient. The chest radiograph shows bilateral diffuse alveolar disease with an air bronchogram. Without treatment, the disease worsens and within a month all patients will have died. Even in fatal cases and even in the most severely compromised host, the organism and the disease remain localized to the lung, with rare exception. When specific and supportive treatment is introduced early in the disease, the mortality rate can be reduced to around 10% in most medical centers. Abrupt onset tends to occur in patients with cancer, organ transplantation, and AIDS.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
