Molecular diagnosis of Pneumocystis pneumonia.

The detection of Pneumocystis DNA in clinical specimens by using PCR assays is leading to important advances in Pneumocystis pneumonia (PcP) clinical diagnosis, therapy and epidemiology. Highly sensitive and specific PCR tools improved the clinical diagnosis of PcP allowing an accurate, early diagnosis of Pneumocystis infection, which should lead to a decreased duration from onset of symptoms to treatment, a period with recognized impact on prognosis. This aspect has marked importance in HIV-negative immunocompromised patients, who develop often PcP with lower parasite rates than AIDS patients.