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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, June 1998, p. 1737-1740, Vol. 36, No. 6
0095-1137/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Identification of Pneumocystis carinii f. sp. hominis Gene Sequences in Filtered Air in Hospital Environments

Mats Olsson,1,2,* Christer Lidman,3 Sophie Latouche,4,5 Anders Björkman,6 Patricia Roux,4 Ewert Linder,1 and Mats Wahlgren1

Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control1 and Microbiology and Tumor Biology Center, Karolinska Institutet,2 Stockholm, Department of Infectious Diseases, Huddinge University Hospital, Huddinge,3 and Department of Infectious Diseases, Danderyd University Hospital, Danderyd,6 Sweden, and Laboratoire de Parasitologie-Mycologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Saint-Antoine,4 and Laboratoire Commun de Biologie Moleculaire, Hôpital Saint-Antoine,5 Paris, France

Received 11 December 1997/Returned for modification 31 January 1998/Accepted 19 March 1998

To evaluate the risk of a nosocomial spread of Pneumocystis carinii f. sp. hominis (P. carinii hominis), air filter samples from rooms of P. carinii pneumonia (PCP) patients, adjacent corridors, and other hospital environments have been investigated for the presence of P. carinii hominis. Amplified DNA from air filters and sputum or bronchoalveolar lavage samples from the PCP patients have been genotyped with the P. carinii hominis genes of the mitochondrial large-subunit (mtLSU) rRNA and the internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) of the rRNA. Genotypes of the two loci were identified by direct sequencing, and for site 85 of the mtLSU locus, three allele-specific PCR assays were used. P. carinii hominis DNA was identified in the air of five of seven PCP patient rooms and in the air of two of four air filtrations from the ward corridors. The P. carinii hominis genotypes were the same in four of the five room air samples as those in the corresponding patients, suggesting a risk of person-to-person transmission of P. carinii hominis from PCP patients. Three of 16 air samples collected in infectious disease wards without the presence of PCP patients and one sample from a cardiology unit in a separate hospital building were also positive, which further strengthens the possibility of acquisition of P. carinii hominis from the environment.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, S-105 21 Stockholm, Sweden. Phone: 46 (8)-735 1300. Fax: 46 (8)-735 1162. E-mail: Mats.Olsson{at}smi.ki.se.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, June 1998, p. 1737-1740, Vol. 36, No. 6
0095-1137/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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