The utility of sputum induction for diagnosis of Pneumocystis pneumonia in immunocompromised patients without human immunodeficiency virus.

Sputum induction for the diagnosis of Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) is widely used for patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), but its utility for patients with other forms of immunocompromise is less well defined. Immunocompromised patients with PCP who do not have human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection have a lower burden of organisms, and sputum induction may consequently have lower diagnostic yield in these patients. However, this retrospective review of the experience at a tertiary referral center suggests that sputum induction has clinical utility for diagnosing PCP in immunocompromised patients without HIV infection.

Infliximab use in patients with severe graft-versus-host disease and other emerging risk factors of non-Candida invasive fungal infections in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients: a cohort study.

Acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a common complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). It has been proposed that tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) blockade with infliximab may be an effective treatment for severe (grades III-IV) GVHD. We determined if infliximab use in this high-risk population was associated with an additional increased risk of non-Candida invasive fungal infections (IFIs).