{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,23]],"date-time":"2026-10-23T20:37:44Z","timestamp":1792787864659,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,21]],"date-time":"2022-05-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1653091200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,21]],"date-time":"2022-05-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1653091200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"name":"This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors."}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["BMC Microbiol"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The current diagnostic gold standard for\n                      <jats:italic>Pneumocystis jirovecii<\/jats:italic>\n                      is represented by microscopic visualization of the fungus from clinical respiratory samples, as bronchoalveolar-lavage fluid, defining \u201cproven\u201d\n                      <jats:italic>P. jirovecii<\/jats:italic>\n                      pneumonia, whereas qPCR allows defining \u201cprobable\u201d diagnosis, as it is unable to discriminate infection from colonization. However, molecular methods, such as end-point PCR and qPCR, are faster, easier to perform and interpret, thus allowing the laboratory to give back the clinician useful microbiological data in a shorter time. The present study aims at comparing microscopy with molecular assays and beta-D-glucan diagnostic performance on bronchoalveolar-lavage fluids from patients with suspected\n                      <jats:italic>Pneumocystis jirovecii<\/jats:italic>\n                      pneumonia. Bronchoalveolar-lavage fluid from eighteen high-risk and four negative control subjects underwent Grocott-Gomori\u2019s methenamine silver-staining, end-point PCR, RT-PCR, and beta-D-glucan assay.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>All the microscopically positive bronchoalveolar-lavage samples (50%) also resulted positive by end-point and real time PCR and all, but two, resulted positive also by beta-D-glucan quantification. End-point PCR and RT-PCR detected 10 (55%) and 11 (61%) out of the 18 samples, respectively, thus showing an enhanced sensitivity in comparison to microscopy. All RT-PCR with a Ct\u2009&lt;\u200927 were confirmed microscopically, whereas samples with a Ct\u2009\u2265\u200927 were not.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Our work highlights the need of reshaping and redefining the role of molecular diagnostics in a peculiar clinical setting, like\n                      <jats:italic>P. jirovecii<\/jats:italic>\n                      infection, which is a rare but also severe and rapidly progressive clinical condition affecting immunocompromised hosts that would largely benefit from a faster diagnosis. Strictly selected patients, according to the inclusion criteria, resulting negative by molecular methods could be ruled out for\n                      <jats:italic>P. jirovecii<\/jats:italic>\n                      pneumonia.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12866-022-02559-1","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,21]],"date-time":"2022-05-21T02:02:45Z","timestamp":1653098565000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Comparison of different microbiological procedures for the diagnosis of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia on bronchoalveolar-lavage fluid"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"22","author":[{"given":"Iacopo","family":"Franconi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alessandro","family":"Leonildi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gianluca","family":"Erra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Roberta","family":"Fais","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marco","family":"Falcone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Emilia","family":"Ghelardi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Antonella","family":"Lupetti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"2559_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"519","DOI":"10.1038\/334519a0","volume":"334","author":"JC Edman","year":"1988","unstructured":"Edman JC, Kovacs JA, Masur H, Santi DV, Elwood HJ, Sogin ML. 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Samples were taken as part of the standard patient care and anonymized by the clinical personnel. Research personnel received and used these samples anonymously.For this type of study, written informed consent was not applicable, as the samples were previously anonymized.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate"}},{"value":"Not applicable.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent for publication"}},{"value":"All the authors have no financial interests.","order":4,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"143"}}