Pneumocystsis jirovecii Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in Pneumocystsis jirovecii Deck (5)
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1
Q

morphology

A

Yest that used to be thought a protozoan.
It’s yeast-like and unicellular.

Can exists as a ‘trophozoite’ yeast form, a uni-nuclear sprorocyst, or cyst with 8-fusiform inracystic bodies.

It’s lifecycle and reservoir is not known.

2
Q

Infection and transmission

A

Infects respiratory tract, transmitted by respiratory drops.

Exclusively in IC’d patients, specifically AIDS patients with CD4 count below 200.

3
Q

Clinical presentation

A

Fast onset pneumonitis.
Diffuse INTERSTITIAL pneumonia, without consolidations in the alveoli.

dyspnea, non-productive cough, fever.

groundglass lesions on X-ray, or nothing at all on x-ray

It is primarily a lung disease, but it may disseminate in rare cases to the 
lymph nodes
spleen
bone marrow
liver
4
Q

Diagnosis

A

BAL: Bronchialveolar Lavage,
and
Grocott silver stain showing yeast in the washings

5
Q

Treatment

A

prophylaxis with trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole
In this case its usually called Bactrim.

or

Pentamidine if the patient has Sulfa allergy.