Healthcare Worker Occupation and Immune Response to Pneumocystis jirovecii

The reservoir and mode of transmission of Pneumocystis jirovecii remain uncertain. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 126 San Francisco General Hospital staff in clinical (n = 103) and nonclinical (n = 23) occupations to assess whether occupational exposure was associated with immune responses...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Emerging infectious diseases Vol. 15; no. 10; pp. 1590 - 1597
Main Authors: Tipirneni, Renuka, Daly, Kieran R., Jarlsberg, Leah G., Koch, Judy V., Swartzman, Alexandra, Roth, Brenna M., Walzer, Peter D., Huang, Laurence
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases 01.10.2009
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
antibodies
Antibodies, Fungal - immunology
Antiviral agents
Causes of
Cross-Sectional Studies
Drug therapy
Female
fungal
Fungal Proteins - immunology
Health aspects
Health Personnel
HIV/AIDS and other retroviruses
Humans
Immune response
Male
Middle Aged
Occupational Exposure
opportunistic infections
Pneumocystis
Pneumocystis carinii - immunology
Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia
Pneumocystis Infections - epidemiology
Pneumocystis Infections - immunology
Prevention
Surveys and Questionnaires
Young Adult
United States
ISSN:1080-6040, 1080-6059, 1080-6059
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The reservoir and mode of transmission of Pneumocystis jirovecii remain uncertain. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 126 San Francisco General Hospital staff in clinical (n = 103) and nonclinical (n = 23) occupations to assess whether occupational exposure was associated with immune responses to P. jirovecii. We examined antibody levels by ELISA for 3 overlapping fragments that span the P. jirovecii major surface glycoprotein (Msg): MsgA, MsgB, and MsgC1. Clinical occupation participants had higher geometric mean antibody levels to MsgC1 than did nonclinical occupation participants (21.1 vs. 8.2, p = 0.004); clinical occupation was an independent predictor of higher MsgC1 antibody levels (parameter estimate = 0.89, 95% confidence interval 0.29-1.48, p = 0.003). In contrast, occupation was not significantly associated with antibody responses to either MsgA or MsgB. Healthcare workers may have occupational exposure to P. jirovecii. Humans may be a reservoir for P. jirovecii and may transmit it from person to person.
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ISSN:1080-6040
1080-6059
1080-6059
DOI:10.3201/eid1510.090207