View clinical trials related to Pneumocystis Pneumonia.
Filter by:The fungus Pneumocystis jirovecii is responsible for pneumocystosis (PcP), a life threatening pneumonia in patients undergoing HSCT. The spontaneous attack rate of 16% within the first 6 months following allogeneic HSCT reported in the 1980's has considerably decreased with prophylaxis. However, PcP still remains a concern in the transplant ward with an incidence rate up to 2.5% in allo- and 1.4% in autologous HSCT but up to 7.2% on low dose of Dapsone. The mortality of PcP is especially high in HSCT recipients. One of the main factors of PcP after HSCT seems to be either the lack of TMP-SMX prophylaxis (all the other prophylactic drugs being inferior to TMP-SMX), or poor compliance to prophylaxis. Due to the rarity of the disease after HSCT, it is impossible to study it in monocenter studies, except on very long periods of time which may not reflect current practice. Several questions deserve investigations in a multicenter study, about timing, risk factors, and outcome. Moreover, some European laboratories involved in the diagnosis of PcP have already given up to classical diagnostic methods and switched to qPCR. This implies that lower fungal burden can be detected and the clinical pertinence of such a diagnostic strategy deserves to be assessed.
In this study, a new, non-invasive method for diagnosis of pulmonary aspergillosis (PA) will be tested in a clinical pilot project.
Cotrimoxazole preventive therapy (CPT) is recommended for prevention of morbidity and mortality due to Pneumocystis pneumonia and other infections in HIV positive patients with low immunity. Common clinical practice is to start CPT in any patient with CD4 counts below 200/µL, and, conversely, to stop CPT when immunity has been restored by antiretroviral treatment to CD4 counts above 200/µL or when viral suppression has been documented for 3 months. However, the latest WHO guidelines widely expands the indication for CPT by advocating for settings with high prevalence of malaria and bacterial infections, that all patients with HIV start CPT regardless of CD4 counts and clinical stage. Furthermore, WHO recommends these patients to continue CPT indefinitely regardless of evidence of immune restoration (The recommendation is for settings with high prevalence of malaria and bacterial infections, not for high-income countries). There is limited scientific evidence to recommend prolonged CPT, as studies have shown it is associated with modestly reduced morbidity due to pneumonia, meningitis and malaria, but no corresponding reduction in mortality. The impact of such a large increase in antibiotic use on the emergence of antimicrobial resistance has not been thoroughly considered. Our previous studies in Tanzania showed that multidrug-resistant bacteria frequently cause bloodstream infections with resultant very high case-fatality rates. As genes encoding for multiple antibiotic resistance traits are transferred by plasmids together with resistance towards cotrimoxazole, prolonged CPT will likely favor the selection of carriage of multidrug-resistant gut bacteria. The proposed randomized clinical trial is designed to assess whether prolonged CPT in HIV-positive patients results in increased fecal carriage of multi-drug resistant gut microbes or increased nasal carriage of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Secondary endpoints are morbidity (clinical events, hospitalizations) and mortality. Stool specimens, nasal swabs and clinical data will be collected from persons attending voluntary counseling and testing facilities and HIV-clinics in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The study results may have important impact on public health in terms of assisting development of rational recommendations for CPT use, and may help prevent emerging antibiotic resistance.
A. Statement of Hypotheses: HIV-infected patients have an increased incidence of emphysema compared to non-HIV-infected smokers, and it has been hypothesized that this accelerated disease progression is the result of one or more latent infections that amplifies the pulmonary inflammatory response to cigarette smoke. Pneumocystis is one infectious agent that likely plays a key role in the development of HIV-associated emphysema. Colonization with Pneumocystis has been demonstrated in HIV-infected subjects, and HIV-infected smokers are particularly susceptible to Pc colonization regardless of CD4 cell count or use of prophylaxis. Pneumocystis colonization is also increased in non-HIV-infected patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and is directly related to the severity of the disease. The presence of Pneumocystis in the lungs, even at low levels as seen in colonization, produces inflammatory changes similar to those seen in COPD, with increases in the numbers of neutrophils and cytotoxic CD8+ lymphocytes. We propose that Pneumocystis accelerates emphysema in HIV-infected smokers by stimulating inflammation and tissue destruction. We will examine the role of co-infection with Pneumocystis in the pathogenesis of HIV-associated emphysema and the mechanism by which it causes emphysema progression. These studies will lead to information that will provide a rational basis for prevention and therapy of HIV-associated emphysema and provide a model for emphysema in the general population