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. 1984 Nov;20(5):887–890. doi: 10.1128/jcm.20.5.887-890.1984

Pneumocystis carinii antigenemia in adults with malignancy, infection, or pulmonary disease.

L L Pifer, H B Niell, B J Morrison, J D Counce Jr, J M Freeman, D R Woods, C L Neely
PMCID: PMC271467  PMID: 6334694

Abstract

A counterimmunoelectrophoresis test for Pneumocystis carinii antigenemia was employed to assess the extent of subclinical infection or colonization with this agent in adults with infection, pulmonary disease, or malignancy and in healthy homosexual men. Antigenemia was detected in 6 of 208 (3%) of normal controls, 3 of 28 (11%) of patients with pulmonary infection, 3 of 33 (9%) of those with chronic lung disease, 1 of 36 (3%) of patients with lung cancer, 7 of 271 (3%) of afebrile subjects with malignancy, 6 of 19 (32%) of febrile patients with malignancy, 2 of 22 (9%) of those with nonpulmonary infection, and 0 of 21 (0%) of healthy young homosexual men. These data suggest that P. carinii is a common commensal or saprophyte that becomes clinically significant only when host defenses are impaired. Antigenemia may occur intermittently during various disease states in the absence of positive clinical signs and should alert the physician to subacute infection or colonization. Treatment appears advisable when clinical data and counterimmunoelectrophoresis results concur.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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