Tag: Immunosuppression

Chagas Disease Reactivation – What to Watch Out For

Primary infection with T. cruzi, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is generally asymptomatic with a small percentage having non-specific symptoms such as fever, malaise, lymphadenopathy, and in certain cases, a Chagoma. The vast majority of people go on to develop an “intermediate” form of the disease, where serology is positive but there is no sign

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PJP in AIDS-Patients vs non-AIDS Patients

Consider this post a continuation of the prior one on prophylaxis. I mention a bit on the pathophysiology, where adaptive immunity seems to play a key role in the way the body deals with the fungus, with mice with SCID infected with pneumocystis not being able to mount an inflammatory response. As a result of

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Microbiological Diagnosis of PJP – PCR and Beta D glucan

This post will not cover the clinical course or risk factors. We’ll be going over the direct fluorescence antibody, PCR, as well as the elusive beta-D glucan as well as taking a brief look at the original ways we used to diagnose PJP (or in some places, how they still diagnose it. In the days

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