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 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.
Tipirneni
Renuka
R
HIV/AIDS Division, San Francisco General Hospital/University of California, San Francisco, California, USA. rtipirneni@partners.org
Daly
Kieran R
KR
Jarlsberg
Leah G
LG
Koch
Judy V
JV
Swartzman
Alexandra
A
Roth
Brenna M
BM
Walzer
Peter D
PD
Huang
Laurence
L
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000908:Antibodies, Fungal / Q000276:immunology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D016720:Pneumocystis Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology*; D045363:Pneumocystis carinii / Q000276:immunology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
D000908:Antibodies, Fungal; D005656:Fungal Proteins