title: Specific detection of Pneumocystis jirovecii in clinical samples by flow cytometry.
abstract: Pneumocystis jirovecii is an opportunistic pathogen responsible for severe pneumonia in immunocompromised patients. Flow cytometry (FC) is a method widely used in different areas of clinical diagnosis like hematology and immunology. Recently it has started to be used in microbiology with a great potential for diagnosis of emergent microorganisms in clinical samples, especially when present in low numbers. The detection of Pneumocystis jirovecii in respiratory samples can be performed by FC, using specific monoclonal antibodies. Considering clinical diagnosis as a reference method, we previously showed FC to be 100% sensitive and specific when compared to immunofluorescence. Being an automated method, it is faster and less subject to human error than microscopic evaluation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Cardiovascular Research Unit, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal. gui75@sapo.pt
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Barbosa
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Costa-de-Oliveira
authors.forename: Ana Teresa
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Acácio Gonçalves
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.forename: Cidália
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pina-Vaz
mesh_terms: D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000382:microbiology; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D045363:Pneumocystis carinii / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D013194:Staining and Labeling