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Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP), also known as Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP), is a form of pneumonia that is caused by the yeast-like fungus Pneumocystis jirovecii. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Pneumocystis specimens are commonly found in the lungs of healthy people although it is usually not a cause for disease. [ 5 ]
It is caused by Pneumocystis jirovecii, a fungus which is usually breathed in and found in the lungs of healthy people without causing disease, until the person's immune system becomes weakened. [7] Diagnosis is by identifying the organism from a sample of fluid from affected lungs or a biopsy.
Pneumocystis pneumonia is an important disease of immunocompromised humans, particularly patients with HIV, but also patients with an immune system that is severely suppressed for other reasons, for example, following a bone marrow transplant. In humans with a normal immune system, it is an extremely common silent infection. [4]
Idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP), or noninfectious pneumonia [1] are a class of diffuse lung diseases. These diseases typically affect the pulmonary interstitium, although some also have a component affecting the airways (for instance, cryptogenic organizing pneumonitis). There are seven recognized distinct subtypes of IIP. [2]
S. pneumoniae is a common member of the bacterial flora colonizing the nose and throat of 5–10% of healthy adults and 20–40% of healthy children. [2] However, it is also a cause of significant disease, being a leading cause of pneumonia , bacterial meningitis , and sepsis .
It is the most common bacterial pneumonia found in adults, the most common type of community-acquired pneumonia, and one of the common types of pneumococcal infection. The estimated number of Americans with pneumococcal pneumonia is 900,000 annually, with almost 400,000 cases hospitalized and fatalities accounting for 5-7% of these cases.
The purpose of the PSI is to classify the severity of a patient's pneumonia to determine the amount of resources to be allocated for care. Most commonly, the PSI scoring system has been used to decide whether patients with pneumonia can be treated as outpatients or as (hospitalized) inpatients.
Diagnosis is carried out in steps. Patient history is obtained, including the symptoms and their duration, as well as exposure to any risk factors of the disease. A chest X-ray may be performed to check for signs of inflammation [ 5 ] and a complete blood count will also be obtained.