The causative organism of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, it is an important human pathogen, particularly among immunocompromised hosts.
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12 Facts About Pneumocystis carinii
2.
Complete lifecycles of any of the species of Pneumocystis carinii are not known, but presumably all resemble the others in the genus.
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3.
The trophozoite stage is thought to be equivalent to the so-called vegetative state of other species, which like Pneumocystis carinii, belong to the Taphrinomycotina branch of the fungal kingdom.
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4.
Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia is an important disease of immunocompromised humans, particularly patients with HIV, but patients with an immune system that is severely suppressed for other reasons, for example, following a bone marrow transplant.
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5.
At first, the name Pneumocystis carinii was applied to the organisms found in both rats and humans, as the parasite was not yet known to be host-specific.
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6.
In 1976, the name "Pneumocystis carinii jiroveci" was proposed for the first time, to distinguish the organism found in humans from variants of Pneumocystis carinii in other animals.
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7.
Name P carinii is incorrect for the human variant, but still describes the species found in rats, and that name is typified by an isolate from rats.
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8.
The rediscovery of Pneumocystis carinii cysts was reported by Antonio Carini in 1910, in Brazil.
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9.
Pneumocystis carinii was redescribed as a human pathogen in 1942 by two Dutch investigators, van der Meer and Brug, who found it in three new cases: a 3-month-old infant with congenital heart disease and in two of 104 autopsy cases – a 4-month-old infant and a 21-year-old adult.
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10.
Frenkel and those before him believed that all Pneumocystis carinii were protozoans, but soon afterwards evidence began accumulating that Pneumocystis carinii was a fungal genus.
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11.
Every tested primate, including humans, appears to have its own type of Pneumocystis carinii that is incapable of cross-infecting other host species and has co-evolved with each species.
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12.
The species of Pneumocystis carinii originally seen by Chagas have not yet been named as distinct species.
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