User:Mr. Ibrahem/Pneumocystosis

Pneumocystosis is a fungal infection that usually presents as pneumonia. Symptoms may include cough, difficulty breathing and fever, and can lead to the lungs to stop working. Involvement outside the lungs is rare, but may include lymph nodes, spleen, liver, bone marrow, kidneys, thyroid, and other organs. In the skin, it may present as nodular growths in the ear or underarms.

It is caused by the fungus Pneumocystis jirovecii. It generally only occurs in people with poor immunity such as HIV/AIDS or premature babies. It is an airborne disease. It is often breathed in by healthy people without causing disease, until the person's immune system becomes weakened.

Diagnosis is by identifying the organism from a sample of fluid from affected lungs or tissue biopsy. Prevention in high risk people, and treatment in those affected is usually with trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (co-trimoxazole). There is no vaccine. Between 10 to 50% of those infected die as a result.

Pneumocystosis has a worldwide distribution. The precise number of people affected is unknown. More than 97% of cases only involve the lungs. The first cases were described in premature and malnourished babies in Europe following the Second World War.