Molecular Evidence of Pneumocystis Transmission in Pediatric Transplant Unit

Abstract

We describe an outbreak of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia in a pediatric renal transplant unit, likely attributable to patient-to-patient transmission. Single-strand conformation polymorphism molecular typing showed that 3 affected patients had acquired the same 2 strains of Pneumocystis, which suggests interhuman infection. An infant with mitochondriopathy was the probable index patient.

Keywords

• Pneumocystis jirovecii
• pneumonia
• PCP
• pediatric renal transplantation
• single-strand conformation polymorphism
• inter-human transmission